UC-N 


*B 


REESE  LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Deceived  *J//^6~ 

rion  No.  7$L    &   $  tf .   Class  No . 


THE   TRAIN    WIRE 


A    DISCUSSION    OF   THE    SCIENCE 


OF 


TRAIN    DISPATCHING 


BY 


J.     A.     ANDERSON; 

WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY  B.  B.  ADAMS,  JR. 


Second  Edition — Revised  and  Enlarqed 


PUBLISHED  BY 
THE  RAILROAD  GAZETTE,  73  BROADWAY,  NEW  YORK. 

1891. 


7 


Copyrighted,  18»1. 

BY 
J.  A.  ANDERSON,  LAMBEKTVILLE,  N.  J. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION v 

PREFACE  TO  FIRST  EDITION ix 

CHAPTER  I— Train  Dispatching..... 1 

CHAPTER  II— The  Dispatcher , 17 

CHAPTER  III— The  Operator 23 

CHAPTER  IV— The  Order  25 

CHAPTER  V— The  Manifold 33 

CHAPTER  VI— The  Record 35 

CHAPTER  VII— The  Train-prder  Signal 37 

CHAPTER  VIII— The  Transmission , 45 

CHAPTER  IX— Rules 59 

CHAPTER  X— Forms  of  Train  Orders 97 

Form  A 101 

Form  B 104 

Form  C... 106 

Form  D 114 

Form  E 115 

Form  F .....   117 

Form  G 119 

Form  H.... 120 

Form  J 127 

Form  K ..  128 

Form  L 130 

CHAPTER   XI— General   Remarks 135 

CHAPTER  XII— Conclusion 143 

INDEX .  147 


INTRODUCTION. 


In  the  first  edition  of  this  book,  issued  in  1883,  Mr.  An- 
derson, then  Superintendent  of  the  Belvidere  Division  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  modestly  disclaiming  perfection 
for  his  work,  ventured  the  prediction  that  the  science  of 
which  he  wrote  would  be  greatly  advanced  as  time  went  on. 
In  one  sense  this  prediction  has  not  been  fulfilled.  The 
eight  years  which  have  passed  have  witnessed  little  or  no 
change  from  the  principles  then  laid  down  by  the  author  of 
The  Train  Wire,  but  he  has  the  satisfaction  of  now  seeing 
their  widespread  adoption  and  a  consequent  great  improve- 
ment in  the  practice  of  this  important  science ;  and  while 
probably  none  at  the  present  time  know  how  to  handle 
trains  by  telegraph  better  than  the  dispatchers  of  the 
Pennsylvania  road  did  when  the  prediction  referred  to  was 
made,  the  requisite  knowledge  and  training  are  now  pos- 
sessed by  many  more  men  than  were  numbered  among  the 
experts  of  the  earlier  period. 

The  author's  disavowal  of  exhaustive  treatment  is  proper 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  a  complete  treatise  on  the  subject 
would  include  much  relating  to  the  operation  of  the  train 
rules  and  to  points  of  discipline  ;  but  it  must  be  agreed  that 
the  first  edition  of  this  book  was  the  first  thorough  and 
precise  essay  on  the  subject  which  had  appeared,  and  that 
it  stated  the  principles  of  dispatching  in  substantially  the 
form  since  adopted  by  the  General  Time  Convention,  a 
body  composed  of  the  General  Managers  and  Superin- 
tendents of  practically  all  the  important  roads  of  the  coun- 
try east  of  the  Missouri  River. 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

The  inception  of  this  book  resulted  from  the  author's 
work,  several  years  earlier,  in  revising  the  rules  of  the  com- 
pany under  whom  he  was  employed ;  and  in  preparing  his 
book  he  naturally  took  care  not  to  trespass  upon  the  pre- 
rogatives of  that  company ;  but  it  is  no  more  than  right  to 
say  that  outside  observers  regard  his  work  as  one  for  which 
his  own  road  and  all  others  are  as  much  indebted  to  him  as 
he  can  be  to  any  road. 

During  the  preparation  of  the  Rules  on  Train  Dispatching, 
formulated  by  the  eminent  Managers  and  Superintendents 
composing  the  Time  Convention  Committee,  Mr.  Anderson 
acted  with  that  Committee,  and  his  suggestions  in  The  Train 
Wire,  with  his  other  work  in  that  line,  were  largely  used  as  the 
basis  for  this  portion  of  the  Time  Convention  rules.  The 
deviations  in  these  rules  from  the  lines  laid  down  in  the  first 
issue  of  The  Train  Wire  are  chiefly  in  the  nature  of  com- 
promises as  to  methods  of  practice,  made  necessary  to  ef- 
fect an  agreement  among  railroad  officers  of  different  needs 
and  opinions.  The  Standard  Code  avowedly  falls  short  of 
perfection,  but  chiefly  because  of  this  necessity.  . 

The  duplicate  form  of  order  is  presented  by  Mr.  Ander- 
son as  a  vital  feature  in  the  science  of  dispatching.  When 
he  first  wrote,  this  form  of  order  was  in  use  on  few  roads. 
Many  officers  were  ignorant  of  it,  and  most  others  knew  of 
it  only  in  a  vague  way  or  looked  upon  it  with  disfavor  as 
impracticable  for  roads  doing  a  heavy  business.  Now,  the 
requirement  that  all  trains  concerned  in  the  execution  of  a 
specific  movement  should  receive  the  order  in  the  same 
words,  is  widely  recognized  as  an  axiom,  and  rules  based  on 
this  principle  are  fast  coming  into  general  use. 

The  first  part  of  the  book  treats  of  general  principles, 
while  the  latter  part  takes  up  the  rules  which  embody  those 
principles  and  give  them  effect,  the  Standard  Code  being 
taken  as  the  basis  of  the  discussion.  It  might  at  first  seem 
unnecessary,  in  view  of  the  wide  acceptance  of  the  Stand- 


INTRODUCTION.  Vll 

ard  Code,  to  enter  into  a  discussion  of  its  rules,  and  some 
of  this  discussion  may  appear  to  be  needless  repetition  of 
matter  presented  in  earlier  pages;  but  as  there  are  still  those 
who  have  not  taken  the  most  advanced  position,  and 
probably  many  who,  having  adopted  good  practice,  are  not 
thoroughly  familiar  with  the  reasons  for  it,  the  author  has 
done  well  to  retain  this  feature  of  his  earlier  work,  in  con- 
nection with  the  statement  of  principles.  These  com- 
ments serve  to  point  out  to  those  not  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  the  subject  the  relations  of  the  rules  to 
the  reasons  for  them,  and  this  must  be  useful  to  beginners 
in  the  science  and  to  men  on  new  roads.  For  officers  of 
experience,  whose  positions  remove  them  from  personal 
contact  with  the  telegraph  work  and  yet  require  that  they 
have  particular  knowledge  of  it,  a  book  of  this  kind  should 
be  both  elementary  and  full ;  and  all  readers  will  find  in  ex- 
amining the  rules  for  practice  that  there  is  an  advantage 
in  having  attention  directed  to  the  conformity  of  the  rules 
with  the  principles  before  enunciated. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  and  original  paragraphs  in 
the  first  edition  of  The  Train  Wire  was  that  describing  the 
scheme  for  numbering  switches  and  using  those  numbers 
in  train  orders,  to  facilitate  the  movement  of  trains  at 
meeting  points.  This  plan  has  since  been  put  in  use 
to  some  extent  and  has  given  great  satisfaction ;  and 
in  connection  with  "lap-sidings"  it  has  been  found  of 
marked  benefit  in  handling  a  heavy  traffic  on  a  single-track 
road.* 

The  author  of  The  Train  Wire  is  no  longer  connected 
with  the  Operating  Department,!  and  has  undertaken  this 
revision  reluctantly,  but  his  interest  in  his  former  work 

*A  description  of  the  use  of  lap-sidings  and  numbered  switches 
on  the  Cleveland  &  Pittsburgh  Railroad  was  published  in  the  Rail- 
road Gazette  of  December  26,  1890. 

t  He  is  Superintendent  of  the  Voluntary  Relief  Department  of 
the  Pennsylvania  and  allied  roads,  with  office  at  Trenton,  N.  J. 


viii  INT  ROD  uc  TIG::. 

is  still  lively,  and  this  is  an  enlargement  as  well  as  a  revi- 
sion ;  so  that  both  reader  and  author  are  to  be  congratu- 
lated. The  superintendents  and  dispatchers,  the  operatois 
young  and  old,  among  the  million  railroaders  of  the  United 
States,  have  a  better  handbook  than  ever  before,  while  the 
author  can  justly  take  pride  in  the  fact  that  the  individual 
views  expressed  by  him  in  1883  are  now  generally  accepted 
truth.  The  introduction  of  the  Standard  Code  on  70,000 
miles  of  American  railroad.;  is  one  of  the  important  steps 
of  recent  years  in  railroad  operation,  resulting  in  greater 
security  to  life  and  property ;  and  The  Train  Wire  should 
be  credited  with  a  liberal  share  of  the  honor  of  the  reform. 

B.  B.  A.,  JR. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION. 


The  views  on  train  dispatching  here  offered  have  been 
arrived  at  during  an  experience  of  some  twenty  years,  in- 
cluding a  recent  connection  with  the  preparation  of  a  set  of 
rules  for  the  company  on  whose  road  the  writer  is  employed. 
While  his  agency  in  the  formation  of  the  rules  referred  to 
accounts  for  the  existence  of  a  general  similarity  and  no 
radical  difference  between  them  and  the  present  treatment 
of  the  subject,  the  latter  is  not  to  be  taken  as  an  author- 
ized commentary  upon  those  rules,  but  as  an  expression  of 
individual  views  for  which,  with  any  additional  matter  or 
variations  in  arrangement,  the  writer  is  alone  responsible. 

With  his  first  experiments  in  train  dispatching  the  writer 
became  convinced  that  the  method  of  issuing  train  orders 
in  the  same  words  to  all  concerned  in  each  transaction  af- 
forded greater  security  than  that  supplied  by  any  other 
form  of  order.  Another  early  conviction  was  that  each 
step  in  the  process  of  preparing  and  issuing  train  orders 
should  be  carefully  and  minutely  arranged  for  by  specific 
rules. 

In  here  undertaking  to  impress  these  views,  it  is  also 
sought  to  set  forth  the  general  principles  upon  which  rules 
should  be  based,  and  to  recommend  methods  of  procedure 
for  all  ordinary  practice.  The  methods  proposed  have  been 
tested  by  the  writer,  and  the  mos*  of  them  by  others.  If 
they  are  not  found  to  apply  to  all  existing  circumstances, 
they  may  at  least  serve  as  guides  in  devising  other  plans. 

It  is  not  assumed  that  this  consideration  of  the  subject  of 
train  dispatching  is  exhaustive.  The  theme  is  a  fruitful 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION. 

one  and  of  growing  interest  and   importance.     Much  re- 
mains to  be  said  of  what  has  already  been  accomplished, 
and  the  future  will  doubtless  show  advances  in  this  science 
far  beyond  the  best  practice  of  the  present. 
1883. 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

CHAPTER  I. 

TRAIN    DISPATCHING. 

The  telegraph,  as  a  means  of  directing  the 
movements  of  trains,  is  a  necessary  railroad 
fixture.  But  for  its  agency  the  moving  of  the 
heavy  traffic  of  some  of  our  railroads  would  be 
impossible  without  large  additions  to  the 
tracks  and  consequent  increase  in  the  cost  of 
construction  and  transportation. 

The  train  wire  is  thus  a  promoter  of  both 
economy  and  facility  of  operation.  Under  the 
supervision  which  it  permits,  the  products  of 
industry  are  rapidly  and  cheaply  exchanged 
between  distant  points,  while  the  traveler, 
unimpeded  by  the  slower-moving  trains,  goes 
swiftly  on  his  way.  Steam  is  the  noisy  giant 
that  shoulders  the  load  and  gets  the  praise  ;  but 
the  silent  man,  in  some  quiet  place  away  from 
the  rattle  of  the  wheels,  with  his  finger  on  the 
key,  controls  the  ponderous  and  complicated 
movements,  which  proceed  so  harmoniously 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

that  one  may  almost  imagine  them  to  be  the 
result  of  natural  law. 

Although  the  value,  however,  of  the  tele- 
graph as  a  railroad  appliance  is  daily  becoming 
more  fully  realiz3d,  its  capabilities  for  useful- 
ness have  not  been  developed  to  an  extent  com- 
mensurate with  its  importance.  A  well-in- 
formed writer  has  justly  said  :  u  Telegraphy 
as  a  handmaid  of  the  railroad  has  not  assumed 
any  enduring  form  peculiarly  adapted  to  this 
business." 

This  is  still  true  in  a  measure,  although  not 
to  so  great  an  extent  as  when  uttered.  The  cir- 
cumstances must  be  very  exceptional  in  which 
the  aid  of  the  telegraph  will  not  be  of  import- 
ant advantage.  Machinery  breaks,  steam  fails, 
connections  are  late,  storms  and  floods  disturb 
the  roadway  ;  a  thousand  things  cause  delays. 
The  difficulties  may  not  be  great  or  numerous 
where  trains  are  few,  but  they  increase  rapidly 
with  the  growth  of  traffic,  and  vexatious  de- 
lays can  only  be  avoided  by  adequate  means  of 
promptly  controlling  the  movements  of  the 
trains.  Hence  the  importance  of  securing  not 
only  the  best  telegraphic  appliances,  but  the 
best  method  as  well  of  rendering  them  useful 
in  the  service  in  question. 

In  arranging  a  system  of  train  dispatching, 
its  relations  to  safety  and  economy  require  that 
careful  consideration  be  given  to  the  principles 


TRAIN  DISPATCHING. 

on  which  it  should  be  based.  Some  of  the 
methods  in  use  indicate  this  careful  study  and 
a  growing  sense  of  its  importance  is  shown  in 
the  recent  general  acceptance  of  rules  on  the 
subject,  prepared  with  the  most  scrupulous 
care. 

These  rules,  as  will  be  seen,  are  in  confor- 
mity with  what  was  urged  in  the  former  edi- 
tion of  this  work,  and  the  present  intention  is  to 
direct  attention  anew  to  some  of  the  underly- 
ing principles,  as  well  as  to  the  practical  bear- 
ing of  the  rules  referred  to. 

The  means  of  instant  communication  afford- 
ed by  the  introduction  of  the  telegraph  seemed 
to  place  at  command  a  method  of  directing 
distant  train  movements  with  ready  facility  ; 
but  it  soon  appeared  that  the  use  of  the  new 
implement  involved  risks  which  must  be  care- 
fully guarded  against ;  hence  the  various  u  sys- 
tems" which  have  arisen  having  this  in  view. 

The  distinctive  feature  of  the  ''American" 
system  of  train  dispatching  is  the  issuing  of 
orders  from  a  central  office,  directing  train 
movements,  supplementary  to  those  provided 
for  by  the  time  -table  and  4 '  train ' '  rules.  This 
method  is  in  general  use,  and  is-  recognized  as 
better  adapted  to  our  circumstances  than  that 
of  moving  trains  by  the  u staff"  or  other 
means  from  station  to  station,  as  in  European 
practice.  In  considering  the  application  of 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

this  mode  of  issuing  telegraphic  orders  for 
single-track,  some  of  the  methods  will  be  seen 
to  apply  as  well  to  roads  having  more  than 
one  track. 

A  printed  time-table,  showing  the  regular 
times  and  meeting-places  of  trains,  may  be 
prepared  at  leisure  and  studied  by  all  train- 
men, and  is  full  notice  as  to  all  regular  trains 
on  the  road.  With  rules  added  directing  how 
the  trains  are  to  proceed  with  relation  to  each 
other,  understood  by  all  alike  and  faithfully 
observed,  collisions  cannot  occur.  If,  however, 
it  becomes  necessary  to  issue  special  orders  for 
trains  that  are  not  on  the  time-table,  or  for  the 
forwarding  of  any,  otherwise  than  by  the  opera- 
tion of  the  ordinary  rules,  new  precautions  be- 
come necessary. 

The  conductor  or  eogineman  receiving  such  an 
order  must  know  that  it  is  given  by  competent 
authority. 

It  must  be  understood  that  others  concerned 
have  corresponding  orders. 

These  orders  should  be  so  clearly  expressed 
that  they  cannot  be  misunderstood,  and  they 
should  be  forwarded  and  delivered  under  such 
safeguards  as  to  insure  their  certain  and  cor- 
rect reception  by  the  proper  persons. 

As  these  orders  are  to  be  acted  upon  at  once, 
without  opportunity  for  careful  study,  their 
form,  and  even  the  paper  on  which  they  are 


TRAIN  DISPATCHING. 

written,  should  be  such  that  they  may    be 
easily  and  quickly  read  and  comprehended. 

It  is  now  generally  agreed  that  orders  of  this 
kind  should  be  issued  by  a  designated  dis- 
patcher^ acting  by  the  authority  and  in  the 
name  of  the  superintendent.  For  two  persons 
to  engage  in  this  work  at  the  same  time  for  the 
same  piece  of  road  involves  serious  risk,  and  to 
insure  safety  as  well  as  confidence  on  the  part  of 
the  trainmen  this  should  never  occur.  It  maybe 
taken  as  an  initial  principle  that  the  success  of 
a  system  depends  largely  upon  the  assurance 
upon  the  part  of  the  trainmen  that  every 
source  of  danger  has  been  carefully  consider- 
ed and  guarded  against,  and  that  the  rules 
adopted  are  strictly  adhered  to.  If  it  were 
known,  for  instance,  that  orders  were  issued 
by  the  superintendent  and  one  of  his  assistants 
alternately,  as  might  be  convenient  at  the  mo- 
ment, it  would  excite  distrust.  The  author 
must  confess  to  such  feeling  when,  some  years 
since  while  on  a  delayed  passenger  train  at  a 
way  station,  he  saw  the  superintendent  take  a 
bit  of  paper  from  his  pocket  and  write  against 
the  side  of  a  building  an  order  for  the  train  to 
proceed  to  a  certain  point,  regardless  of  an- 
other designated  train.  It  came  out  all  right, 
but  the  incident  did  not  inspire  confi- 
dence in  the  telegraphic  system  of  that  road. 
Within  the  knowledge  of  the  author  a  dis- 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

astrous  collision  resulted  from  an  oversight  in 
regard  to  the  delivery  of  an  order  where  a  skil- 
ful official  undertook  to  assist  a  dispatcher  in  an 
emergency.  Between  the  two  an  important 
point  was  omitted  ;  each  thought  the  other  had 
attended  to  it.  Extreme  care  is  necessary  to 
carry  out  exactly  the  methods  fixed  upon  for 
the  proper  preparation  and  issuing  of  these 
messages,  and  confusion  is  likely  to  result  from 
interference  with  those  charged  with  this 
duty. 

In  issuing  a  time-table  in  advance  of  the  date 
upon  which  it  takes  effect,  means  can  readily 
be  used  for  making  sure  that  it  is  received  by 
those  who  are  to  be  governed  by  it.  The 
means  are  more  complicated  and  subject  to 
greater  risks  whereby  we  can  be  assured  that 
a  telegraphic  train  order  reaches  correctly  and 
surely  the  hands  of  those  for  whom  it  is  de- 
signed. After  preparation  by  the  Dispatcher 
it  is  transmitted  in  telegraphic  language  by 
mechanical  agency  to  a  distant  point,  there  to 
be  retranslated  into  plain  English  and  written 
out  without  mistake,  for  record  and  delivery  ; 
and  all  this  in  the  shortest  possible  time. 

The  details  of  this  process  should  be  so  ar- 
ranged as  to  guard  as  far  as  possible  against 
every  risk  arising  under  the  several  steps,  and 
nothing  should  be  left  to  mere  personal  care 
that  can  be  provided  for  by  fixed  methods  of 


TRAIN  DISPATCHING.  i 

proceeding.  To  one  who  is  an  expert  and  can 
see  in  his  own  case  no  occasion  for  extraordi- 
nary safeguards  such  precautions  may  not 
seem  important;  but  a  consideration  of  the 
risks  involved,  of  the  many  steps  to  be  taken, 
and  of  the  number  of  agents  engaged  in  the 
process,  many  of  whom  are  often  not  greatly 
experienced,  must  lead  to  the  conclusion  that 
a  methodical  following  out  of  a  carefully 
prepared  mode  of  proceeding  is  a  most  valu- 
able means  of  providing  against  many  of  the 
chances  of  failure. 

Two  general  methods  or  "systems"  of  con- 
structing train  orders  are  in  use.  They  have 
been  distinguished  as  the  " single  order"  and 
"duplicate  order"  system.  The  latter  is  ac- 
curately described  by  its  title.  The  other 
title  is  not  a  strictly  accurate  designation,  but 
sufficiently  so  for  our  purpose. 

Although  the  "duplicate"  method  is  now 
widely  recognized  as  the  best,  the  other  is  still 
in  use.  For  purposes  of  comparison  of  these 
methods  we  will  take  a  telegraphic  order  pro- 
viding for  the  meeting  of  two  trains  at  a  des- 
ignated point  beyond  which  the  one  has,  by 
train  rules,  the  superior  right  of  track  as  re- 
spects the  other.  The  order  is  to  limit  the  su- 
perior right,  and  permit  the  inferior  train  to 
run  to  a  point  to  which  it  could  not  otherwise 
go  without  trespassing  on  the  right  of  the 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

other.  If  by  any  error  or  misunderstanding 
the  superior  train  fails  to  stop  at  the  proposed 
meeting-point,  while  the  other  proceeds  upon 
the  assumption  that  it  will  thus  stop,  the  result 
maybe  a  disastrous  collision. 

Under  the  ""single  order"  system,  when 
two  opposing  trains  are  to  meet  by  special 
order,  arrangements  are  usually  first  made  to 
stop  the  superior  train  by  a  "holding  order." 
An  order  is  then  given  forbidding  it  to  go  be- 
yond the  designated  point,  and  then  another 
order  is  given  to  the  inferior  train  authorizing 
it  to  go  to  that  point.  The  holding  order  is 
addressed  to  an  agent  or  operator  whose  sta- 
tion the  superior  train  will  pass,  and  reads 
substantially  as  follows  : 

Hold  train  No.  5  for  orders. 

The  person  receiving  this  is  required  to  dis- 
play a  signal  to  stop  the  expected  train  if  it 
is  not  already  at  the  station,  and  not  to  allow 
it  to  proceed  until  the  meeting  order  is  duly 
forwarded  and  delivered.  This  order  to  the 
superior  train  is  usually  addressed  to  the  con- 
ductor and  engineman  in  the  following  form, 
or  its  equivalent : 

You  will  not  pass  Alton  until  train  No.  4 
arrives. 

The  corresponding  order  to  the  conductor 
and  engineman  of  the  inferior  train,  sent  to 
some  station  to  be  passed  by  it,  will  read : 


You  will  run  to  Alton  regardless  of  train 
No.  5. 
or  perhaps — 

You  will  meet  and  pass  train  No.  5  at  Alton. 

The  holding  order  is  dispensed  with  by  some, 
and  with  some  it  is  the  practice  to  issue  orders 
to  inferior  trains  while  a  superior  is  held  by  a 
holding  order  until  its  movements  can  be  de- 
termined on,  when  it  receives  an  order  cover- 
ing all  that  have  been  given  to  trains  against  it. 

Under  the  "duplicate"  system  the  holding 
order  may  be  used,  but  such  has  not  been  the 
general  practice,  and  it  would  not  under  this 
system  be  used  in  the  manner  above  described. 
This  system,  as  its  name  implies,  requires  that 
the  order  given  to  each  train  shall  be  a  dupli- 
cate of  that  given  to  every  ether  train  concerned 
in  the  movement  provided  for  in  the  order.  For 
the  simple  movement  above  described  an  order 
is  addressed  to  the  conductor  and  engineman 
of  each  of  the  two  trains,  in  the  same  words, 
as  follows  : 

Trains  No.  4  and  No.  5  will  meet  at  Alton. 

This,  being  in  the  same  words  to  each,  may  be 
transmitted  over  the  wire  to  both  at  the  same 
time.  This  is  usually  done,  and  offers  one  of 
the  chief  advantages  of  this  form  of  order. 
The  trains  are  stopped  by  signals,  which  are 
required  either  to  be  displayed  when  an  order 
is  sent,  or  to  stand  normally  in  position  to 


10 


THE  TRAIX  WIRE. 


stop  trains,  which  are  only  permitted  to  pass 
on  the  signal  being  changed  or  on  getting  proper 
orders. 

Objection  has  been  made  to  the  u  duplicate  " 
form  that  it  does  not  distinctly  order  a  train  to 
proceed  farther  than  its  schedule  rights  per- 
mit, nor  in  definite  terms  direct  the  other  not 
to  go  beyond  the  new  meeting-point.  The  ob- 
jection has  no  weight,  as  an  order  to  meet  can 
only  be  construed  as  authorizing  each  train  to 
go  to  the  station  named,  and  not  beyond  it 
until  both  are  there;  and  it  is  easy  and  proper 
to  provide  a  rule  which  shall  definitely  settle 
the  point  for  those  who  are  unaccustomed  to 
this  form,  if  it  should  be  deemed  necessary. 

The  fatal  defect  in  the  " single  order"  sys- 
tem is  that  the  orders  to  the  two  trains,  written 
separately  and  differently  expressed,  *are  sub- 
ject to  the  grave  danger  of  inadvertently  giv- 
ing in  one  a  meeting-place  different  from  that 
given  in  the  other.  This  liability  is  greater 
if  an  interval  of  time  occurs  between  the  pre- 
paration of  the  two.  The  risk  is  very  much 
increased  by  the  usage  under  this  system  of 
including  several  meeting-points  in  one  order, 
and  becomes  still  more  serious  if  meeting -points 
are  to  be  made  for  several  trains  moving  in 
each  direction.  The  schedule  for  these  must 
be  rapidly  made  up  and  written  out  in  parts, 
giving  to  each  train  its  part,  differing  in  form 


TRAIN  DISPA  TCHING.  1 1 

from  all  the  others.  There  is  nothing  but  the 
care  and  skill  of  the  Dispatcher  to  prevent  the 
opposing  orders  from  differing  in  some  partic- 
ular. When  we  consider  the  care  necessary 
in  preparing  a  time-table,  to  properly  show  the 
running  time  and  meeting-places  of  the  several 
trains,  we  must  see  that  the  risk,  in  the  process 
described,  of  getting  something  wrong,  must 
far  outweigh  any  supposed  convenience  in  a 
train  having  an  order  showing  a  continuous 
schedule  of  its  meeting-points  for  several  oppos- 
ing trains.  Those  unacquainted  with  this  work 
would  be  astonished  at  the  extent  to  which  the 
skill  of  some  dispatchers  in  this  direction  has 
been  developed.  To  the  uninitiated  the  men- 
tal operations  would  be  simply  bewildering, 
which  are  required  of  a  brain  from  which  issue 
for  hours,  without  apparent  effort,  the  instruc- 
tions under  which  the  trains  on  a  busy  road 
are  moved  expeditiously  and  harmoniously. 
It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  many  men  have 
moved  traffic  of  huge  dimensions  safely  and 
with  entire  satisfaction  by  the  "  single  order," 
but  this  does  not  at  all  prove  that  the  system 
possesses  inherent  principles  of  safety.  Great 
personal  ability  and  skill  have,  with  it,  achieved 
marked  success  where  in  less  able  hands  its 
defects  would  have  become  apparent;  but  that 
some  have  developed  this  remarkable  ability 
is  no  reason  why  we  should  depend  upon  this 


12 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


in  a  matter  of  such  vital  importance.  The 
prevalence  of  methods  which  require  excep- 
tional skill  has  doubtless  interfered  with  the 
more  extended  usefulness  of  the  railroad  tele- 
graph which  would  probably  have  resulted 
under  a  system  more  readily  operated  by  men 
of  less  experience  and  ability. 

Men  who  have  successfully  worked  under 
the  "  single  order"  method  have  stated  that  the 
mental  strain  is  very  great,  augmented  by. anx- 
iety born  of  the  fact  that  a  single  error  may 
be  fatal  to  property  or  life.  Now,  a  mode  of 
constructing  orders  which  may  be  operated 
with  safety  by  men  of  moderate  skill,  which 
relieves  them  of  the  mental  strain,  and.wMcA 
in  itself  provides  against  the  most  serious 
chance  of  error  must  at  once  commend  itself. 
The  u  duplicate"  would  appear  to  meet  these 
requirements  ;  and  that  such  is  the  case  is  the 
abundant  testimony  of  those  who  have  used  it. 

J  n  preparing  this  order  the  Dispatcher  can- 
not possibly  give  different  meeting-points,  as 
there  is  but  one  message  for  both  trains,  and 
when  transmitted  to  both  simultaneously  each 
must  get  the  same  as  the  other.  The  mental 
anxiety  arising  from  the  other  method  is 
absent  in  this.  An  experienced  Dispatcher 
under  the  " single"  system  has  stated  that 
in  visiting  an  office  where  the  " duplicate" 
was  used  he  was  surprised  that  those  engaged 


TRAIN  DISPATCHING. 


13 


there  appeared  to  have  so  little  on  their  minds. 
He  found,  on  himself  adopting  the  "  dupli- 
cate," that  it  was  readily  explained.  Each 
transaction  is  at  once  complete.  On  the  pre- 
paration and  transmission  of  the  order  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  language  to  both  trains,  and 
with  no  necessary  connection  with  any  other 
transaction,  the  mind  is  at  once  prepared  to 
dismiss  that  and  go  on  to  the  next.  In  the 
transmission  of  two  separate  orders  for  the  one 
meeting,  there  is  ever  the  feeling  that  an  error 
may  be  or  may  have  been  committed.  But 
where  the  one  sentence  is  prepared  for  both 
trains  and,  as  is  usually  done,  transmitted  to 
both  at  one  sending,  the  Dispatcher  may  rest 
secure  that  no  collision  can  occur  from  any 
oversight  of  Ms  in  preparing  the  orders,  and 
superintending  officers  may,  if  necessary, 
commit  this  work  to  comparatively  unskilled 
hands,  with  the  assurance  that  so  long  as  the 
prescribed  methods  are  adhered  to  the  pro- 
ceeding will  be  at  least  safe,  however  great 
may  be  the  delays  arising  from  unskilful 
movements. 

The  power  of  combination  and  of  quickly 
calculating  the  probable  movements  of  trains 
and  determining  what  shall  be  done  is  an  en- 
tirely distinct  matter.  This  power  is  largely 
the  result  of  experience.  It  is  essential  to  the 
full  development  of  any  system,  but  is  exer- 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

cised  with  much  greater  facility  under  the 
relief  which  the  u duplicate"  affords,  it 
has.  been  alleged  that  this  method  requires 
more  telegraphing  than  the  other,  and  that 
trains  cannot  be  moved  by  it  so  promptly. 
It  has,  however,  been  for  many  years  in  use 
on  roads  where  only  the  most  expeditious 
methods  would  serve ;  and  superintendents 
moving  a  heavy  traffic,  who  have  changed  from 
the  " single"  to  the  ''duplicate,"  state  that 
the  amount  of  telegraphing  is  reduced,  one- 
third.  Those  who  have  grown  up  with  a  sys- 
tem may  have  reasonable  hesitation  as  to 
making  a  change.  It  is  not  easy  to  give  up 
methods  of  practice  in  which  one  has  been 
trained  for  those  which  are  new  ;  and  it  may 
seem  difficult,  perhaps  unsafe,  to  undertake  to 
re-educate  operators  and  trainmen  in  so  critical 
a  matter.  Nevertheless,  those  who  have  tried 
it  have  found  these  supposed  difficulties  to 
quickly  vanish,  and  have  discovered  the  result 
to  be  in  every  way  satisfactory,  and  that  this 
form  of  order  is  much  to  be  preferred.  Some 
officers  who  were  with  difficulty  induced  to 
change  are  now  among  the  most  enthusiastic 
supporters  of  the  "  duplicate"  method. 

In  arranging  for  the  issuing  of  train  orders, 
experience  has  shown  that  forms  may  be  sim- 
plified and  improved  methods  adopted  by 
which  the  work  is  facilitated  and  the  orders 


TRAIN  DISPATCHING.  15 

rendered  clearer  to  those  receiving  them  ;  and 
disaster  has  taught  the  necessity  for  precau- 
tions not  before  thought  of.  These  points  will 
be  considered  in  detail  with  reference  to  the 
"  duplicate  "  system  of  orders,  although  much 
that  follows  will  apply  to  the  other. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  DISPATCHER. 

The  Train  Dispatcher  holds  a  most  import- 
ant position  as  respects  safety  of  life  and 
property.  He  may  perhaps  do  more  than  any 
other  official  to  secure  it  by  care  or  endanger 
it  by  lack  of  vigilance.  His  relations  to  econ- 
omy, too,  are  important.  As  the  time  of 
engines,  cars,  and  employes,  and  of  the  persons 
and  things  carried,  is  of  value,  delay  avoided 
is  money  saved. 

It  cannot  be  too  strongly  insisted  upon  that 
the  man  who  issues  train  orders  should  make 
it  his  especial  business,  and  should  have  no 
interference  from  others.  None  but  a  very 
limited  business  will  warrant  the  performance 
of  this  duty  by  the  superintendent  in  person, 
or  by  any  one  engaged  in  other  work.  If  it  is 
such  as  to  call  for  any  approach  to  continuous 
attention,  persons  must  be  specially  assigned 
to  it.  The  hours  of  duty  and  the  question  of 
other  occupation  must  depend  upon  the  fre- 
quency and  constancy  of  the  demands  of  the 
work  specially  in  hand.  Upon  a  busy  road 
where  the  trains  are  run  much  on  orders,  safety 
as  well  as  efficiency  will  be  best  promoted  by 
2 


18 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


excluding  other  occupation  and  anything 
which  may  distract  the  attention  of  the  "  Train 
Runner,"  and  under  these  circumstances  a 
period  of  duty  of  eight  hours  is  as  long  as  can 
prudently  be  assigned.  This  conveniently  di- 
vides the  twenty-four  hours  between  three 
men,  and  does  not  overtax  them.  With  lighter 
duties  a  longer  time  may  be  admissible.  With 
very  heavy  work,  six  hours  may  be  long 
enough. 

The  importance  of  confining  the  work  of 
dispatching,  for  the  time  being,  to  the  indi- 
vidual charged  with  this  duty,  has  already 
been  referred  to,  and  cannot  be  too  strongly 
urged.  The  office  where  this  work  is  done 
should  be  separate  from  others,  and  should  not 
be  subjected  to  the  visits  and  conversation  of 
outsiders  or  of  employes  whose  business  does 
not  call  them  there.  The  Dispatcher  should 
be  a  proficient  operator.  He  may  not  himself 
transmit  his  orders,  but  he  should  be  able  to 
read  all  that  passes  on  the  wire,  in  order 
to  have  an  intelligent  understanding  of 
what  is  going  on.  He  should  be  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  the  location  and  length  of 
the  various  sidings,  the  grades  and  curves, 
the  capacity  of  the  engines,  and  other  matters 
which  may  affect  the  movements  of  the  trains 
he  has  in  hand,  and  some  experience  as  con- 
ductor will  be  of  value.  He  should  be  a  man  of 


THE  DISPATCHER. 


19 


more  than  average  ability,  of  good  judgment, 
clear  head,  and  strictly  temperate  habits. 
In  many  cases  the  chief  Dispatcher  is  the 
right-hand  man  of  the  superintendent  in  all 
matters  associated  with  the  management  of  the 
trains;  and  a  suitable  recognition  of  the  im- 
portance of  the  position  will  have  a  valuable 
effect  in  elevating  the  character  of  this  service 
and  in  promoting  its  efficiency. 


CHAPTEE   III. 

THE   OPERATOE. 

Where  the  work  of  the  Dispatcher  is  consid- 
erable, he  will  require  the  aid  of  one  or  more 
operators  in  the  work  connected  with  the  trans- 
mission of  orders.  In  view  of  the  importance 
of  his  duties  and  of  the  fact  that  he  may  in 
turn  become  Dispatcher,  the  operator  should 
be  selected  with  care.  He  too  should  have  a 
clear  head  and  correct  habits,  be  a  good  pen- 
man, an  expert  telegrapher  and  a  sound-reader. 
It  will  be  his  duty  to  transmit  the  orders,  or 
write  them  down  as  transmitted  by  the  Dis- 
patcher, and  to  follow  them  through  the  sub- 
sequent steps  until  the  process,  up  to  delivery, 
is  complete.  He  should  not  be  charged  with 
message  or  clerical  work  where  it  may  inter- 
fere with  his  principal  duty. 

The  station  operator  who  receives  the  orders 
must  also  have  part  in  the  subsequent  steps, 
and  on  him  is  placed  the  duty  of  delivery. 
Besides  the  personal  and  professional  qualifi- 
cations required  for  the  other,  he  should,  with 
him,  be  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  rules 
and  methods  prescribed  for  this  service,  as  well 
as  with  the  time-tables  and  general  train  rules 


^  THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

and  the  character  and  designations  of  the 
trains.  A  station  operator  may  do  much  to  keep 
business  moving  by  advising  the  Dispatcher  of 
arrivals,  delays,  and  other  things  occurring 
near  him,  which  have  a  bearing  on  train  move- 
ments, but  which  the  letter  of  his  instructions 
may  not  require  him  to  report.  One  who  does 
this  intelligently  prepares  and  recommends 
himself  for  advancement. 

It  is  quite  important  that  operators  be  im- 
pressed with  the  gravity  of  the  work  in  hand. 
Their  apprenticeship  and  training  should  be 
such  as  to  assure  this  as  far  as  possible,  and 
before  appointment  they  should  be  thoroughly 
examined  as  to  their  qualifications  in  all  re- 
spects, and  afterward  constantly  supervised  by 
competent  officials.  Young  persons  readily 
learn  to  telegraph,  and  the  lowest  compensa- 
tion paid  is  something  considerable  to  the 
youth  just  leaving  home,  while  the  salaries 
usually  paid  to  railroad  operators  are  not  such 
as  to  offer  fair  inducement  to  men  of  years  and 
experience  to  accept  or  retain  these  positions. 
Hence  many  of  our  operators  are  compara- 
tively young.  It  is  no  disparagement  to  them 
to  say  that  they  have  not  ordinarily  the  stead- 
iness of  character  and  sense  of  responsibility 
which  we  expect  in  maturer  years.  Without 
these  it  is  difficult  for  them  to  have  a  proper 
conception  of  the  magnitude  of  the  interests 


THE  OPERATOR.  23 

dependent  on  their  attention  to  their  duties, 
and  of  the  importance  of  exactly  carrying  out 
details  which  to  them  may  seem  almost  trivial. 
We  have  here  a  cogent  reason  for  so  systema- 
tizing this  business  as  to  render  the  working  of 
it  as  nearly  automatic  or  mechanical  as  possi- 
ble, and  thus  eliminate  as  far  as  practicable 
the  risk  arising  from  the  deficiencies  of  the 
human  agency.  In  all  systems  worked  by  man 
this  risk  will  be  found.  Better  pay  will  pro- 
cure better  men,  greater  care  and  greater  con- 
scientiousness. Men  laboring  for  a  bare  pit- 
tance and  with  little  hope  of  advancement  in 
the  future  do  not  usually  cultivate  these  qual- 
ities to  the  highest  point.  Thus  we  are  brought 
to  one  of  the  many  points  where  the  balance 
must  be  constantly  sought  between  economy 
of  expenditure  and  security  of  management. 
Each  railroad  officer  must  work  it  out  for  him- 
self. 

Operators  should  aim  at  a  high  standard  of 
qualification  and  attention  to  duty.  If  the 
result  is  not  greater  remuneration  in  this 
service,  their  efforts  may  be  rewarded  by  pro- 
motion in  other  directions.  Reliable  men  are 
always  wanted,  and  the  consciousness  of  doing 
one' s  best  is  a  source  of  satisfaction  of  more 
value  than  money.  A  careful  study  of  their 
special  work  will  develop  a  sense  of  its  import- 
ance, leading  to  better  attention  to  duties  and 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

preparation  for  advancement.  Operators  will 
therefore  do  well  to  make  themselves  masters 
of  their  business,  rather  than  rest  satisfied 
with  a  merely  mechanical  attention  to  pre- 
scribed methods,  without  an  intelligent  appre- 
hension of  their  significance. 

Telegraph  offices  should  be  carefully  guarded 
against  the  intrusion  of  outsiders  or  employes 
off  duty.  Conversation  or  other  interruptions 
may  distract  the  attention  at  a  critical  moment 
and  cause  an  operator  to  write  an  order  incor- 
rectly or  allow  a  train  to  pass  which  he  should 
stop. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   ORDER. 

There  are  some  general  considerations  which 
it  is  important  to  bear  in  mind  in  the  prepara- 
tion and  issuing  of  train  orders.  Some  of 
these  have  been  already  pointed  out.  The 
circumstances  under  which  they  are  to  be 
acted  upon  render  it  of  the  utmost  import- 
ance that  there  shall  be  nothing  in  their  form 
or  matter  to  obstruct  in  any  way  a  clear  and 
prompt  comprehension  of  their  intent.  JVo 
instructions  should  be  included  that  are  not 
strictly  running  orders.  Directions  to  take  on 
or  put  off  cars,  or  to  change  engines,  or  general 
instructions  as  to  the  management  and  stops 
of  a  train  with  reference  to  its  traffic,  are  not 
proper]  y  included  in  such  orders.  Again, 
the  language  in  which  the  orders  are  ex- 
pressed should  be  simple  and  unmistaka- 
ble. Simplicity  implies  brevity.  Superfluous 
words  or  ambiguous  terms  or  expressions 
should  be  carefully  excluded.  To  avoid  the 
use  of  anything  of  this  character  the  precise 
form  of  expression  should  be  determined  on 
beforehand  for  all  cases  that  can  be  anticipated, 
and  strictly  adhered  to.  This  also  renders  the 


^°  THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

work  of  the  Dispatchers  uniform,  and  enables 
them  to  perform  it  with  facility,  especially  if 
not  greatly  experienced ;  and  the  trainmen 
become  accustomed  to  the  forms,  and  compre- 
hend them  at  sight. 

There  are  differences  of  opinion  among  prac- 
tical men  as  to  the  propriety  of  including  more 
than  one  transaction  in  the  same  order.  Some 
reasons  have  been  before  urged  against  this 
practice.  As  men  generally  favor  the  practice 
to  which  they  are  accustomed,  it  is  not  easy  to 
settle  this  question.  A  number  of  meeting 
points  may  be  given  in  succession  in  one  order 
more  readily  in  the  "single  order"  system  than 
in  the  other  ;  and  this  is  claimed  as  an  advan- 
tage, and  as  better  than  giving  the  same  on  as 
many  different  pieces  of  paper.  With  an  order, 
hastily  and  perhaps  poorly  and  closely  written 
on  flimsy  paper,  to  be  read  by  a  conductor  in 
a  storm  or  by  the  dim  light  of  a  hand-lamp, 
there  is  a  good  deal  of  risk  that  in  a  long 
order  for  several  meeting- points  something 
may  escape  notice  ;  a  line  may  be  skipped 
and  a  meeting- point  missed.  In  the  u  dupli- 
cate" order  the  same  danger  would  exist, 
and,  in  addition  to  the  matter  affecting 
the  train  receiving  an  order,  it  would  get 
matter  not  at  all  affecting  it.  Thus,  if  A  is 
ordered  to  meet  B,  and  B  to  meet  C,  and  both 
orders  are  included  in  one  for  the  benefit  of 


THE  ORDER.  *  « 

B,  the  duplicate  to  A  would  include  matter  for 
C  in  which  A  has  no  concern,  and  that  to  C 
would  have  matter  for  A  which  he  does  not 
require.  Circumstances  might  make  it  of  some 
use  for  A  to  know  where  C  is  to  meet  B  ;  but 
burdening  the  order  with  this  extraneous  mat- 
ter will  be  found  usually  to  be  a  positive  dis- 
advantage and  to  cause  much  more  work  in 
transmission  than  giving  each  operation  singly. 
The  latter  has  been  found  to  work  entirely 
well  in  practice,  and  is  theoretically  the  safer 
method.  The  conductor  or  engineman  holding 
several  of  these  orders  arranges  them  in  their 
proper  succession,  and  each  one  as  it  is  ful- 
filled is  laid  aside.  It  may  be  desired  to 
change  a  meeting- place  ordered,  and,  if  this  is 
included  in  an  order  containing  several  others, 
the  change  is  not  so  readily  made.  The  reasons 
would  appear  to  be  important  for  insisting 
that  each  order  should  be  ordinarily  con- 
fined to  a  single  transaction,  with  slight 
exceptions,  some  of  which  are  elsewhere  ad- 
verted to. 

The  following  is  a  sample  of  " duplicate" 
order  actually  and  frequently  given  in  practice 
on  one  of  the  principal  divisions  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania Railroad.  It  is  given  to  illustrate 
perhaps  the  least  objectionable  method  of 
combining  several  movements  in  one  order. 
It  is  compact,  and  is  alleged  to  serve  a  good 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


purpose.     The  principal  objections  to  it  are 
those  above  given. 

PENNSYLVANIA  RAILROAD  COMPANY. 

PHILADELPHIA  DIVISION. 

Telegraphic  Train  Order  No 


To  Conductor  and  Engineman 


....^..  .....  ±_.'.  ...188  f 


^V^iiL^J^ £££&*£jg£«iia 


Coadnctor  and  Enginemu  mnat  each  iave  A  copy  Of  thii  order.    8w  Bnle  M. 


THE  ORDER.  4J 

An  order  must  not  be  taken  to  allow  more 
than  it  expressly  authorizes.  As,  for  instance, 
a  train  authorized  by  order  to  run  in  the  time 
of  another  is  not  on  this  account  to  assume  that 
it  may  run  within  the  time  of  any  other  supe 
rior  train  which  may  te  understood  to  have  to 
keep  out  of  the  way  of''  the  train  whose  right 
is  curtailed.  Each  train  must  be  governed  in 
all  respects  by  train  rules  with  relation  to  every 
other  train,  excepting  as  distinctly  provided 
in  the  special  orders  ;  and  as  a  necessary  con- 
sequence of  this,  no  train  should  be  permitted 
to  run  under  the  authority  or  protection  of 
an  order  given  to  another. 

Every  provision  in  an  order  should  be  held 
to  be  in  force  indefinitely  until  fulfilled  or 
annulled,  or  expired  by  some  limitation  in 
the  order  or  in  the  rules.  Jn  the  orders  de- 
livered to  those  who  are  to  execute  them 
no  erasures,  alterations,  or  interlineations 
should  be  permitted.  These  tend  to  obscure 
the  meaning  and  raise  doubts  as  to  accuracy. 
The  writing  should  be  clear  and  plain,  the 
letters  well  formed  and  without  flourishes. 
Orders  must  often  be  read  in  dim  light  or  in 
storms,  and  when  men  are  hurried,  and  they 
should  not  be  required  to  decipher  bad  writing. 
Many  orders  have  come  under  the  author's 
notice  which  were  defective  in  this  respect. 
The  following  specimen  is  given,  omitting 


30 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


names  that  would  indicate  where  it  was  issued. 
The  bad  writing,  the  number  of  points  covered 
by  the  order,  the  difficulty  arising  from  these, 


and  the  flimsy  character  of  the  paper  must 
condemn  the  order  as  utterly  unfit  as  a  reli- 
ance for  the  safety  of  life  and  property  de- 
pendent upon  its  proper  execution.  Theillus- 


THE  ORDER. 


31 


tration  is  not  wholly  satisfactory,  for  the  re- 
production of  the  order  on  smooth,  white  pa- 
per does  not  adequately  represent  the  indis- 
tinctness arising  from  yellow  paper,  thin  and 
crumpled,  on  which  it  was  written,  in  com- 
mon with  so  many  train  orders. 

Orders  should  be  identified  by  consecutive 
numbers,  as  is  now  usual.  If  the  regular 
business  requires  a  large  number  it  is  better 
to  begin  with  No.  1  each  day.  As  a  pre- 
caution against  the  engineman  overlooking 
orders,  and  as  a  means  for  properly  taking 
care  of  them,  a  clip  should  be  provided 
for  them  on  the  engine,  in  a  position  to  be 
readily  seen  by  the  engineman  while  attend- 
ing to  his  duties.  This  will  avoid  the  necessity 
of  his  putting  the  orders  where  he  may  forget 
them  ;  and  with  each  on  a  separate  paper  they 
may  be  arranged  in  proper  succession  and  re- 
moved as  executed,  leaving  always  before  the 
eye  the  next  to  be  executed.  The  copies  of 
orders  retained  by  operators  should  remain  in 
the  book.  These  books  and  the  copies  that 
have  been  used  by  trainmen  should  be  sent  to 
headquarters  for  inspection.  This  will  serve 
to  indicate  the  manner  in  which  the  regulations 
are  carried  out,  and  the  condition,  as  to  legi- 
bility, etc.,  in  which  the  orders  are  issued. 

Forms  of  orders  will  be  considered  under 
"  Forms." 


CHAPTER  Y. 

THE   MANIFOLD. 

Under  the  common  practice  there  must  be 
prepared  at  least  three  copies  of  each  train 
order  received  for  delivery.  The  conductor 
and  engineman  are  each  supplied  with  a  copy, 
and  the  operator  retains  one.  To  make  three 
several  copies  by  pen  and  ink,  as  heretofore 
practiced  by  some,  takes  a  good  deal  of  time,  and 
there  is  danger  that  they  may  not  be  all  alike, 
and  the  time  and  risk  are  increased  if  more 
than  three  copies  are  required.  To  obviate 
this,  the  manifold  system  of  writing  has  come 
into  general  use  and  with  very  great  advan- 
tage. As  used  by  many,  however,  it  has  seri- 
ous defects.  The  tissue  paper  frequently  used 
is  very  objectionable,  especially  the  yellow  va- 
riety. Messages  written  on  it  are  quite  diffi- 
cult to  read,  especially  in  a  poor  light ;  it  is 
easily  crumpled,  rendering  it  still  more  indis- 
tinct ;  it  is  difficult  to  handle  in  the  wind,  and 
it  is  easily  damaged  by  wet.  In  the  use  of  the 
manifold  for  some  seventeen  years  the  author 
found  it  entirely  practicable  to  use  an  opaque 
white  paper,  of  sufficient  body  to  be  free  from 
the  above  objections  and  yet  capable  of  giving 
3 


:  THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

seven  distinct  copies  with  a  good  pencil  of  the 
hardness  of  No.  4  Faber.  This  is  now  recog- 
nized as  the  best  and  is  prescribed  in  the  spe- 
cifications connected  with  the  Time  Conven- 
tion rules. 

Operators  should  not  be  permitted  to  receive 
orders  on  separate  slips  and  copy  them  on  the 
manifold,  but  should  take  the  order  down  at 
once  in  the  manifold-book.  A  sheet  of  tin  placed 
in  the  book  enables  them  to  make  all  the  copies 
perfectly  distinct.  Of  course  none  but '  'sound' ' 
operators  can  do  this.  It  takes  but  little  more 
time  and  application  to  make  a  "  sound  "  than 
a  " paper"  operator,  and  the  advantage  of  the 
former  is  so  great  in  this  as  well  as  in  other 
respects  in  this  service  that  it  should  always  be 
required.  Operators  readily  become  able  to  take 
the  requisite  number  of  copies  in  manifold 
without  the  use  of  intermediate  slips,  and  the 
risks  of  copying  are  thus  avoided.  When 
more  copies  are  wanted  than  are  made  at  the 
first  writing  they  should  be  traced  from  one  of 
the  original  copies.  In  the  case  of  a  general 
order,  as  in  annulling  a  train,  operators  would 
usually  make  but  one  copy,  and  others  required 
for  delivery  should  be  traced  from  this.  Care- 
ful supervision  should  be  had  as  to  the  actual 
practice  of  operators  in  the  proper  use  of  the 
manifold,  and  as  to  frequently  changing  the 
carbon  paper  to  secure  distinctness. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    RECORD. 

A  careful  record  ought  to  be  kept  of  each 
step  in  the  issuing  of  an  order,  as  well  as  of  its 
exact  terms.  This  record  should  be  made  on 
the  original  copies  held  by  the  Dispatcher,  and 
by  the  operator  who  receives  and  delivers  the 
order.  The  Dispatcher' s  copy  should  show  who 
issued  it,  and  both  should  indicate  what  oper- 
ators were  engaged  in  its  transmission,  and 
the  time  at  which  each  step  was  taken,  as  well 
as  the  proper  address,  etc. 

The  Dispatcher's  train  sheet  should  con- 
stantly show  the  movements  of  the  several 
trains,  which  should  be  promptly  reported  by 
the  operators  and  recorded  by  them  in  the  pre- 
scribed forms.  A  practical  difficulty  occurs  in 
making  the  Dispatcher' s  record  of  all  the  steps 
in  the  issuing  of  an  order,  which  it  may  be 
well  to  refer  to  here.  When  the  Dispatcher  is 
assisted  by  an  operator,  the  most  of  the  steps 
will  be  taken  and  recorded  by  the  latter.  They 
should  be  at  once  recorded  on  the  original 
copy  of  the  order,  so  as  to  leave  nothing  to  be 
remembered  or  copied.  Now,  if  the  Dispatcher 
must  write  the  order  out  in  the  book  before 
transmission,  the  operator  may  have  occasion 
to  use  the  book  at  the  same  time  for  recording 


UNIVERSITY 


36 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


steps  then  in  progress  with  reference  to  other 
orders  ;  and  if  he  does  not,  the  passing  of  the 
books  back  and  forth  between  them  is  incon- 
venient. It  has,  partly  on  this  account,  doubt- 
less, become  the  custom  with  many  for  the  Dis- 
patcher himself  to  telegraph  the  orders  without 
first  writing  them  down,  his  operator  taking 
them  down  as  repeated  back  and  writing  them 
in  the  book  of  record.  The  operator  thus  has  the 
book  all  the  time  in  his  hands.  The  objections 
to  the  Dispatcher  transmitting  orders  himself 
are  elsewhere  considered,  and  it  is  designed 
here  to  point  out  a  method  by  which  the  other 
plan  can  be  pursued  and  the  inconvenience  re- 
ferred to  avoided.  The  Dispatcher  is  provided 
with  a  manifold-book  and  some  loose  sheets 
properly  headed.  With  these,  by  1  he  manifold 
process,  he  prepares  two  copies  of  the  order, 
one  in  his  book  and  the  other  on  a  loose  sheet 
which  he  hands  to  the  operator  for  use  in  trans- 
mitting. On  this  all  the  subsequent  record  is 
made  by  the  operator,  and  at  the  close  of  each 
day  all  the  orders  for  that  day  are  fastened 
together  and  filed  away.  The  numbers  and 
manifold  writing  sufficiently  identify  the  two 
copies  if  subsequent  comparison  is  necessary, 
each  being  in  fact  an  original.  This  method 
has  the  further  advantage  that  the  Dispatcher 
has  by  him  all  the  time  copies  of  orders  he  has 
issued,  for  reference  if  needed. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  TRAIN-ORDER    SIGNAL. 

A  method  much  used  for  signaling  a  train 
to  stop  for  orders  is  to  display  a  flag  or  light 
of  suitable  color,  after  receiving  the  direction 
to  u  hold  the  train."  This  is  often  done  by 
holding  the  signal  in  the  hand  or  placing  it  on 
the  platform  or  ground  or  in  some  fixed  place. 
If  placed  on  the  platform,  without  attendance, 
it  is  liable  to  be  obscured  or  removed  by  per- 
sons about  the  place.  If  held  in  the  hand  of 
the  agent  or  operator  it  is  a  poor  arrangement 
for  performing  so  important  an  office.  The 
operator  is  usually  required  to  report  that  the 
signal  is  displayed.  He  evidently  cannot  do 
this  without  leaving  the  sigfcal  unattended, 
and  in  fact  when  he  is  alone  he  must  so  leave  it, 
as,  after  it  is  displayed,  he  must  return  to  the 
office  to  receive  the  order,  and  he  must  also 
often  be  engaged  in  his  office  while  expecting 
a  train.  It  will  frequently  occur  that  trains 
will  pass  his  station  after  he  has  received  an  or- 
der for  some  subsequent  train  ;  in  which  case 
he  must  temporarily  remove  the  signal,  or  stop 
a  train  which  might  otherwise  not  be  required 
to  stop.  When  this  plan  Is  used  all  trains 


38  THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

that  arrive  before  that  for  which  the  order  is 
held  are  actually  stopped.  A  serious  accident 
occurred  some  years  since  from  the  hand-lamp 
going  out  as  it  was  swung  as  a  signal  to  stop  a 
train  for  which  orders  had  been  received.  The 
signal  failed,  and  the  train  went  on  and  col- 
lided with  the  opposing  train.  Lanterns  and 
flags  are  the  only  available  movable  signals  to 
be  put  in  the  hands  of  train  and  track  men, 
but  they  should  not  be  relied  upon  where  any- 
thing better  can  be  used.  The  evils  attending 
this  use  of  hand  signals  are  so  manifest  that 
the  practice  is  fast  disappearing,  and  the  refer- 
ence to  it  here  may  before  long  be  only  a  re- 
minder of  what  has  been  done. 

A  signal  for  this  purpose  should  be  distinct- 
ive and  of  the  most  substantial  character.  A 
fixed  signal  manipulated  from  within  the  office 
is  greatly  to  be  preferred.  Several  such  have 
been  devised.  The  signal  should  be  such  as 
to  be  distinctly  seen  at  proper  distances ;  it 
should  be  as  little  as  possible  liable  to  confu- 
sion with  other  objects,  and  it  should  be  an 
adornment  rather  than  a  disfigurement  to  the 
landscape  in  which  it  forms  a  prominent  feat- 
ure. The  most  satisfactory  signal  within  the 
author's  knowledge  is  the  simple  semaphore 
arm,  extending  horizontally  from  a  post  and 
showing  a  red  light  to  signify  "stop,  "  and 
inclined  and  showing  a  white  light  to  signify 


THE  TRAIN-ORDER  SIGNAL.  39 

the  opposite,  and  operated  by  a  handle  with- 
in the  telegraph  office. 

Much  discussion  has  been  had  in  the  past 
as  to  whether  a  danger  signal,  which  this  pre- 
eminently is,  should  stand  normally  at  safety 
or  danger.  The  earlier  practice  favored  the 
former,  as  indicated  above,  the  absence  of  a 
signal,  in  the  plan  described,  being  the  rule.  In 
more  recent  years  the  weight  of  opinion  has 
been  that  in  all  systems  of  danger  signals  the 
normal  position,  and  that  to  which  such  signals 
should  automatically  move,  is  that  indicating 
danger.  So  arranged,  the  indicator  will  always 
be  in  a  position  to  stop  trains  unless  it  is 
moved  to  another  position  to  show  that  there 
are  no  orders  for  them.  It  becomes  a  stand- 
ing order  to  "hold,"  and,  when  an  order 
is  forwarded  for  a  train,  the  fact  of  its  receipt 
requires  that  the  signal  be  simply  left  in  its 
normal  position  and  the  train  thus  stopped.  It 
will  be  then  the  rule  and  the  habit  of  trainmen 
to  observe  all  these  signals  and  to  stop  when 
they  are  not  placed,  on  their  approach,  in  the 
position  permitting  them  to  proceed. 

The  rules  of  many  railroads  still  indicate  a 
usage  contrary  to  this.  The  lamp,  flag, 
or  other  stop  signal  is  displayed  only  when 
a  train  is  to  be  stopped  for  orders.  It 
appears  that  under  some  circumstances, 
especially  where  the  duties  of  the  agent 


40  THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

and  operator  are  performed  by  the  same 
person,  the  telegraphic  duties  being  compara- 
tively small,  it  is  thought  better  to  retain  this 
method,  and  the  rules  of  the  Time  Convention 
were  so  framed  as  to  provide  for  either,  leav- 
ing the  choice  to  those  concerned.  Under  the 
" normal  at  danger"  plan,  when  an  order  is 
received  in  advance  of  the  arrival  of  the  train 
for  which  it  is  designed,  and  has  been  properly 
verified  and  prepared  for  delivery,  it  remains 
in  the  hands  of  the  operator  until  the  train  ar- 
rives, the  signal  showing  ustop."  If,  in  the 
mean  time,  other  trains  pass  for  which  there 
are  no  orders,  the  signal  must  be  placed,  as 
they  approach,  so  as  to  indicate  that  they  may 
pass.  But  there  is  then  the  danger  that  the 
operator  may  inadvertently  allow  the  train  to 
pass  for  which  he  has  an  order.  This  has  actu- 
ally occurred,  and  should  be  provided  against. 
This  should  be  done  by  requiring  that,  as  soon 
as  an  order  for  a  train  not  arrived  is  ready  for 
the  signatures  of  the  trainmen,  or  for  delivery 
when  signatures  are  not  taken,  the  copies  de- 
signed for  them  shall  be  removed  from  the 
book,  folded,  and  marked  with  the  train  num- 
;ber,  and  put  in  a  designated  place  and  in  such 
position  that  the  signal  handle  cannot  be 
moved  without  the  eye  and  hand  being  directed 
to  the  orders.  This  is  readily  effected  by  a 
rack  to  hold  the  orders  placed  on  a  small  door 


THE  TRAIN-ORDER  SIGNAL. 


41 


closing  by  a  spring  and  catch  over  the  handle 
by  which  the  operator  moves  the  signal.  The 
handle  cannot  be  moved  without  unfastening 
the  door  and  so  opening  it  as  to  bring  the  or- 
ders, which  are  on  it,  under  the  eye  and  hand 
of  the  operator.  This  precaution  may  appear 
trivial,  but  while  it  is  of  great  importance  to 
adopt  such  routine  that  its  mechanical  per- 
formance will  lead  to  a  correct  result,  it  is 
equally  important  to  interpose  such  obstacles 
as  are  necessary  to  prevent  a  mechanical  inad- 
vertence that  may  lead  to  disaster.  The  same 
kind  of  risk  exists  in  the  use  of  block  signals, 
and  several  plans  have  been  used  to  obviate  it 
by  suitable  mechanical  means.  In  the  other 
use  of  the  train-order  signal  there  is,  to  a  cer- 
tain extent,  the  same  liability  to  this  uncon- 
scious movement  when  it  has  been  placed  at 
danger,  and  a  like  precaution  is  needed  to 
guard  against  it.  It  often  happens  that  there 
are  orders  on  hand  for  several  trains.  A  defi- 
nite place  for  them  prevents  their  getting 
mixed  with  each  other  or  with  other  papers  ; 
and  removing  them  from  the  book  avoids  the 
necessity  of  leafing  them  over  to  find  the  par- 
ticular order  which  men  may  be  waiting  to  sign, 
and  possible  mistake  in  getting  the  wrong 
order. 

The  only  reason  of  apparent  moment  that 
could  be  assigned  for  leaving  the  orders  in  the 


**  THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

book  is  that  the  trainmen  may  sign  all  the 
copies.  There  does  not  appear  to  be  any  good 
reason  for  requiring  their  signatures  on  their 
own  copies,  and  the  manifold  writing  by  them 
would  be  unsatisfactory.  Again,  it  will  often 
happen  that  more  than  one  train  is  to  receive 
a  copy  of  the  order,  in  which  case  the  same 
signatures  are  not  wanted  on  all  the  copies. 
The  point  here  urged  as  of  paramount  im- 
portance is  that  the  order  itself  shall  be  inter- 
posed between  the  operator  and  the  instrument 
by  which  he  might  give  a  signal  permitting 
a  train  to  pass  improperly.  In  this  view  the 
discussion  of  the  point  is  pertinent  to  the  sub- 
ject of  "Signal."  It  may  be  added  that  the 
final  indorsement  of  "  complete"  after  signa- 
ture on  each  copy  takes  but  a  moment,  and 
perhaps  no  longer  than  a  careful  writing  of  it 
over  several  copies  in  the  manifold-book ;  and 
as  the  men  should  read  and  compare  their 
copies  before  the  final  steps,  it  is  difficult  to  see 
how  they  could  do  this  properly  if  the  orders 
remain  in  the  book. 

The  train-order  signal  should  be  used  for  no 
other  than  its  legitimate  purpose.  It  will  not 
be  inconsistent  with  this  to  use  it  for  holding 
a  train  the  required  time  after  the  passage  of 
another  train  in  the  same  direction. 

Upon  some  roads,  trains  passing  while  the 
stop  signal  is  shown  receive  a  " clearance" 


THE  TRAIN-ORDER  SIGNAL. 


43 


card  stating  that  orders  in  hand  are  not  for 
them.  This  is  included  as  a  part  of  the  plan 
presented  in  the  Time  Convention  rules  for  the 
use  of  the  signal  with  its  normal  position  at 
safety.  It  would  seem  to  be  necessary  with 
this  method  ;  and  in  any  case  where  it  can  be 
used  it  is  a  valuable  precaution,  the  only  ob- 
jection being  that  it  requires  the  stopping  of 
fast  or  heavy  trains  which  it  might  be  quite 
objectionable  to  stop.  This  would  seem,  how- 
ever, to  be  proper  for  any  train  stopped  by 
the  signal  for  time. 

Where  the  plan  is  adopted  of  keeping  the 
train-order  signal  normally  at  safety  it  should 
still,  as  in  the  other  system,  be  so  arranged 
that  it  will  move  automatically  to  danger  if 
any  of  the  mechanical  parts  fail.  If  this  is 
not  done  and  dependence  is  placed  on  fastening 
it  at  danger,  the  fastenings  or  some  of  the  con- 
nections may  fail  and  the  signal  move  to  safety 
without  the  fact  being  observed.  One  im- 
portant advantage  of  the  other  plan  of 
using  the  signal  is  that  it  is  never  at  safety 
excepting  when  held  in  that  position  by  the 
operator.  Where  the  usual  position  is  safety 
it  cannot  be  arranged  for  the  operator  to  actu- 
ally hold  the  signal  while  it  occupies  the  dan- 
ger position. 


CHAPTER  VllL 

THE  TRANSMISSION. 

The  transmission  of  orders  will  be  taken  to 
include  all  the  steps  after  preparation  by  the 
Dispatcher  until  final  delivery. 

These  are  : 

1.  Telegraphing  the  order  to  the  stations  to 
which  it  is  to  be  sent. 

2.  Writing  down  as  received. 

3.  Repeating  it  back  to  the  Dispatcher. 

4.  The  response  of  the  Dispatcher  indicating 
that  it  is  correctly  repeated. 

5.  The  acknowledgment  of  this  response. 

6.  Comparing  copies  of  the  order  with  the 
persons  to  whom  it  is  addressed,  and  taking 
their  signatures. 

7i ,  Telegraphing  the  signatures  to  the  Dis- 
patcher's  office. 

8.  The  Dispatcher's  reply,  acknowledging 
the  receipt  of  the  signatures,  and  indicating 
that  the  order  may  now  be  delivered. 

9.  The  indorsement  of  this  reply  on  the 
order. 

10.  The  delivery  to  the  trainmen. 

Some  Dispatchers  prefer  to  personally  tele- 
graph their  orders,  having  an  assistant  operator 


46 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


to  copy  them  as  transmitted  or  as  repeated, 
and  to  perform  the  subsequent  work  of  verifi- 
cation, record,  etc.  Those  who  are  accustomed 
to  transmit  their  own  orders  strongly  contend 
for  that  practice.  Those  who  pursue  a  differ- 
ent course  are  equally  strong  for  theirs.  In 
arranging  for  those,  at  least,  who  have  not  be- 
come wedded  to  any  particular  method,  gen- 
eral consideration  should  govern.  If  contests 
or  inquiries  arise  on  the  wire  when  the  Dis- 
patcher is  sending,  time  is  occupied  which  he 
may  very  much  need,  and  where  the  amount 
of  work  is  large  it  will  leave  the  Dispatcher 
more  at  liberty  to  attend  to  his  special  duty  if 
he  simply  prepares  his  orders  and  hands  them 
to  an  operator  for  the  subsequent  steps,  and 
this  is  by  some  carefully  insisted  upon. 

The  Dispatcher's  duty  is  not  simply  to  direct 
each  movement  as  the  exigency  arrives.  He 
should  be  constantly  on  the  alert  to  provide  as 
far  as  possible  in  advance  for  the  arrangments 
necessary  for  keeping  his  trains  moving, and  his 
mind  should  be  free  from  anything  that  may 
interfere  with  this.  Attention  by  him  to  the 
merely  mechanical  duties  detracts  from  his 
usefulness  and  the  benefits  which  the  road 
should  derive  from  the  talents  which  are  sup- 
posed to  fit  him  for  his  position.  Some  points 
connected  with  this  subject  are  referred 
to  in  Chapter  VI.  Whether  sent  person* 


THE  TRANSMISSION. 


47 


ally  by  the  Dispatcher  or  by  an  operator  from  a 
writteo  sheet,  the  order  should,  whenever  practi- 
cable, be  transmuted  simultaneously  to  all  the 
offices  to  which  it  is  to  be  sent.  Ordinarily  this 
will  be  to  but  two  offices.  An  order  annulling 
a  train  may  have  to  be  sent  to  all  the  offices  on 
the  division.  The  simultaneous  transmission 
is  a  most  valuable  safeguard  and  a  saving  in 
telegraphing  only  practicable  with  the  dupli- 
cate order.  It  has  been  urged  as  an  objection 
to  the  duplicate  order  that  where  agents  act  as 
operators  their  duties  as  agents  may  sometimes 
interfere  with  their  attendance  as  operators 
when  wanted  for  simultaneous  transmission. 
This  furnishes  no  ground  for  objecting  to  this 
form  of  order,  as  simultaneous  transmission  is 
not  essential,  and  it  is  only  necessary  in  such 
case  that  the  precaution  be  observed  of  sending 
first  to  the  train  of  superior  right. 

On  calling  an  office  a  special  signal  should 
be  used  to  indicate  that  a  train-order  is  to  be 
sent.  The  numerals  31  or  19  are  now  gen- 
erally used  for  this  purpose,  the  former  for 
orders  to  be  signed  by  the  trainmen  before  de- 
livery and  the  latter  for  orders  to  be  delivered 
without  such  signature.  After  this  signal  the 
word  "copy"  should  follow,  with  a  number 
indicating  how  many  copies  are  to  be  made. 
This  may  be  omitted  when  three  is  the  number 
required,  that  being  the  most  usual.  If  the 


4:8  THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

system  in  use  does  not  provide  that  the  train- 
order  signal  shall  stand  normally  in  the  "  dan- 
ger" position,  the  operator  who  is  to  receive 
the  order  must,  at  this  point,  place  it  in  that 
position  and  report  that  he  has  done  so. 
He  then  prepares  his  manifold-book  for  the 
requisite  number  of  copies  and  takes  the  order 
down  as  sent,  with  the  proper  address  for  his 
station,  immediately  repeating  it  back  word 
for  word,  reading  from  the  order  as  actually 
written  on  the  paper  to  be  delivered,  and  not 
from  a  slip  to  be  afterward  copied.  A  "pa- 
per "  operator  should  write  the  order  in  mani- 
fold before  repeating.  Some  defer  the  repeat- 
ing until  the  signatures  of  the  trainmen  are  to 
be  reported.  But  it  is  on  many  accounts  pre- 
ferable to  repeat  and  verify  the  order  at  once 
and  before  signatures  are  taken,  even  if  the 
trainmen  are  present.  It  assures  its  accuracy 
before  they  have  read  and  signed  it.  The  re- 
peating operators  can  listen  to  each  other  bet- 
ter than  if  they  repeat  at  different  times,  and 
the  sender  of  the  order  can  better  attend  to  its 
verification  while  the  original  lies  before  him. 
There  will  also  be  less  detention  to  trains  if  the 
repeating  is  done  before  their  arrival.  The 
importance  of  this  will  further  appear  from 
the  consideration  elsewhere  of  the  effect  of  an 
order  where  the  telegraph  fails  after  but  one 
train  has  received  and  proceeded  on  it. 


THE  TRANSMISSION.  4:9 

The  relative  succession  in  which  the  offices 
are  to  repeat  should  be  fixed  by  rule  or  usage, 
to  avoid  doubt  or  conflict.  It  is  better  that 
the  repeating  be  done  in  the  same  succession 
as  that  in  which  the  several  offices  are  ad- 
dressed. This  assures  the  repeating  first  by 
the  office  receiving  for  the  superior  train. 
As  a  valuable  precaution  against  error,  each 
should  be  required  to  listen  while  the  others 
repeat.  An  operator  has  been  known  to  hear 
the  name  of  a  meeting-place  correctly,  write  it 
down  incorrectly  in  the  order  and  repeat  it  back 
correctly.  If  he  had  looked  at  his  copy  as  the 
other  repeated,  he  would  probably  have  noticed 
his  error. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  observed  that 
too  much  importance  cannot  be  attached  to 
the  cultivation  of  a  careful  habit  in  telegraph- 
ing orders.  A  certain  degree  of  rapidity  in 
handling  the  key  is  not  inconsistent  with  dis- 
tinctness, but  the  latter  should  never  be  sacri- 
ficed to  haste  and  a  hurried  and  careless  style 
of  telegraphing  should  never  be  permitted. 

The  operator  in  the  Dispatcher's  office  should 
carefully  observe  each  word  as  repeated  by 
each,  to  make  sure  that  all  is  repeated  cor- 
rectly. Some  observe  the  comnendable  prac- 
tice of  underscoring  each  word  as  repeated, 
thus  making  sure  that  their  attention  is  not 
withdrawn.  If  the  Dispatcher  transmits  his 
4 


50  THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

orders  himself  and  his  copy  for  record  is  made 
as  the  order  is  repeated,  as  is  the  practice  of 
some,  his  copy  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  an 
original.  It  may  vary  from  what  was  sent  or 
designed  to  be  sent,  and  his  operator  taking  it 
down  has  not  the  opportunity  of  checking  as 
above,  and  may  himself  make  a  mistake  in  re- 
ceiving it.  All  offices  required  at  the  time  to 
repeat  an  order  should  do  so  before  the  Dis- 
patcher replies.  The  signal  for  this  reply  now 
generally  used,  and  adopted  for  the  "  Stand- 
ard "  Code,  is  "  O  K."  This  is  given  simulta- 
neously to  all,  naming  each,  and  each  should 
acknowledge  it.  It  is  important  that  the  Dis- 
patcher should  know  that  each  has  received 
the  "OK."  It  is  not  necessary  that  the  Dis- 
patcher personally  authorize  this  reply.  It 
may  be  properly  done  by  his  operator  who  has 
watched  the  repeating.  Where  the  order  is 
not  repeated  back  until  the  signatures  are  ob- 
tained and  sent  with  it,  the  response,  "OK" 
and  sometimes  "complete"  is  used  to  cover 
the  whole,  but  where  the  practice  herein 
recommended  is  pursued,  the  use  of  two  sig- 
nals is  necessary,  "O  K"  being  the  first. 
The  time  at  which  the  order  is  sent  and  "  O 
K"  given  should  be  noted  on  all  the  copies, 
with  the  initials  or  signals  of  the  operators 
sending  and  receiving,  and  the  name  or  initials 
of  the  superintendent.  The  order  is  then  ready 


THE  TRANSMISSION:  51 

for  signature  and  delivery,  and,  if  the  train 
for  which  it  is  designed  has  not  arrived,  the 
train  copies  should  be  removed  from  the  book, 
folded  and  marked  on  the  outside  with  the 
train  number,  and  placed  in  the  rack  provided, 
as  indicated  under  The  Train- Order  Signal. 

Practice  has  varied  very  much  in  the  method 
of  delivering  orders.  Some  have  simply  had 
them  authenticated  by  repeating  back  as  above, 
with  perhaps  the  proviso  that  the  trainmen  com- 
pare their  copies  with  that  of  the  operator,  and 
in  some  cases  sign  for  them.  The  transmitting 
of  signatures  has  not  in  all  cases  been  required. 
Many  rules,  especially  those  of  early  date, 
appear  to  be  based  on  the  idea  that  the  whole 
process  of  sending,  verifying,  and  acknowledg- 
ing an  order  is  to  be  continuous  and  while  the 
train  is  at  the  station.  Much  that  appears  in 
some  rules  gives  the  impression  that  either 
this  idea  prevailed  or  that  the  phraseology 
used  in  connection  with  it  was  retained  while 
the  practice  had  changed.  On  a  busy  road  it 
would  certainly  be  impracticable  to  carry  out 
this  idea,  and  it  is  not  now  usually  attempted. 

In  early  days  of  train  telegraphy,  when  or- 
ders were  not  prepared  with  the  precision  of  the 
present  day,  it  was  the  custom  to  add  to  the 
order  the  phrase  "  how  do  you  understand  ? " 
This  came  to  be  represented  by  a  signal,  the 
most  generally  used  perhaps  being  the  numeral 


52 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


"31."  The  reply  to  this,  preceded  by  "  we  un- 
derstand we  are  to,"  represented  by  "  13  "  or 
other  numeral,  was  required  to  be  written  out 
by  the  trainmen  as  their  "understanding." 
This  was  probably  in  most  cases  a  verbatim 
copy  of  the  order.  Whether  this  was  actually 
done  by  the  conductor  and  engineman  is  doubt- 
ful. Some  allowed  the  operator  to  do  it.  With 
the  definite  forms  of  orders  now  us^d  and  well 
understood,  there  is  certainly  no  necessity  for 
men  to  write  out  their  "understanding  "  The 
manifold  copies,  authenticated  by  repeating 
back  and  compared  by  reading  aloud,  which 
also  serves  to  impress  the  order  on  the  men, 
must  certainly  be  better  than  anything  written 
by  or  for  them.  There  would  seem  to  be  no 
reason  for  perpetuating  a  fiction  by  referring 
to  the  repeating  of  the  order  as  the  -"under- 
standing" orbytheuseof  "31"and"18" 
in  their  original  sense,  when  the  question  and 
answer  which  they  represent  are  no  longer  de- 
signed to  be  used,  and  this  practice  and  the 
expressions  which  arose  under  it  have  almost 
entirely  given  place  to  the  improved  methods. 
Following,  then,  the  practice  here  recom- 
mended and  now  generally  used,  the  message 
has  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  operator  and 
its  verbal  accuracy  assured,  and  the  train-order 
signal  being  in  position  to  stop  the  train,  the 
conductor  and  engineman  understand  that  on 


THE  TRANSMISSION.  53 

arrival  they  are  to  go  to  the  office  ' '  for  orders. " 
One  of  them  (or  the  operator)  should  read  the 
order  aloud  while  each  looks  at  his  copy,  the 
object  being  to  guard  against  a  hurried  read- 
ing of  the  order,  to  acquaint  them  fully  with 
its  exact  terms,  and  to  impress  its  purport 
upon  them.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  no  man 
would  willfully  disregard  a  train  order,  but 
there  are-  many  who  would  proceed  upon  a 
hasty  examination  or  none  at  all,  if  permitted 
to  do  so,  and  perhaps  on  a  wrong  impression 
as  to  what  it  directs  to  be  done. 

The  order  having  been  thus  read  and  com- 
pared, the  signatures  should  be  taken  on  the 
operator' s  copy.  From  the  many  rules  forbid- 
ding operators  to  sign  for  trainmen,  and  conduc- 
tors for  enginemen,  it  would  seem  probable  that 
this  is  sometimes  done.  This  is  a  practice 
which  no  considerations  of  convenience  can  jus- 
tify. Personal  signatures  should  be  insisted 
upon.  Without  this  there  is  danger  that  men 
will  hastily  ugrab"  an  order  and  fail  to  get 
its  meaning.  Time  is  well  spent  in  securing 
their  particular  attention  to  it,  and  their  signa- 
tures attest  that  this  has  been  done. 

There  is  much  difference  of  opinion  as  to 
whether  it  is  important  to  take  the  signature 
of  the  engineman.  Much  time  is  often  lost  by 
taking  him  from  his  engine,  particularly  on 
very  long  trains,  and  some  think  that  the  pur- 


54 


THE  TRAIN"  WIRE. 


pose  is  as  well  served  by  having  his  copy  de- 
livered to  him  by  the  conductor.  In  the  latter 
plan  there  is  some  danger  that  the  attention  of 
the  engineman  may  not  be  particularly  called 
to  the  purport  of  the  order,  and  for  this  reason 
the  author  believes  that  the  practice  is  best 
where  both  signatures  are  required.  The  Time 
Convention  code  leaves  the  choice  optional. 

The  signatures  having  been  obtained,  the 
Dispatcher  is  to  be  advised,  by  their  transmis- 
sion to  him,  in  connection  with  the  number  of 
the  order  signed  for  and  the  train  number  or 
designation.  The  reply  that  all  is  satisfactory, 
authorized  by  the  Dispatcher  personally,  is 
then  to  be  given  in  some  prescribed  form. 
The  word  ' '  complete ' '  has  been  adopted  in  the 
" Standard  Code,"  superseding  "correct," 
which  was  formerly  used. 

The  selected  word  should  be  written  on  each 
copy,  with  the  exact  time  at  which  it  was 
given.  The  order  may  then  be  delivered,  and 
the  train  order  signal  so  placed  as  to  allow  the 
train  to  proceed.  If  the  Dispatcher's  office  is 
also  used  as  an  office  for  delivering  orders,  the 
same  formalities  in  delivery  should  be  observed 
as  at  way  offices. 

It  will  sometimes  occur  that  an  order  must 
be  sent  to  a  disabled  or  other  train  away  from 
a  telegraph  station.  It  must,  in  that  case,  pass 
through  additional  hands,  and  great  care  is 


THE  TRANSMISSION. 

necessary  to  guard  against  error.  The  con- 
ductor or  messenger  who  carries  the  order 
should  be  made  accountable  for  its  delivery  in 
proper  form,  by  himself  signing  for  it  and 
getting  "  complete."  The  order  being  ad- 
dressed to  the  conductor  and  engineman  of 
the  train  a  in  care  of  "  the  messenger  selected, 
the  latter  should  be  furnished  with  an  addi- 
tional copy,  on  which  he  is  to  take  the  signa- 
tures of  the  conductor  and  engineman,  as  if 
they  were  at  a  telegraph  office.  This  copy 
should  be  delivered  as  soon  as  practicable  to 
an  operator,  who  should  forward  the  signa- 
tures, completing  the  process. 

Although  when  these  paragraphs  were 
first  written  the  method  of  transmission 
described  did  not  correspond  entirely  with 
any  practice  that  might  be  termed  general, 
it  agreed  in  essential  points  with  the  prac- 
tice upon  several  roads  where  most  careful 
consideration  has  been  given  to  the  various 
risks  in  train  dispatching  and  to  methods  for 
avoiding  them.  The  process  detailed  indicates 
the  points  to  be  guarded,  and  furnishes  what  has 
proved  a  practicable  and  satisfactory  method, 
and  corresponds  with  the  regulations  now 
being  rapidly  adopted  on  our  principal  roads. 

The  rules  should  determine  the  course  to  be 
pursued  if  the  telegraph  fails  during  the  pro- 
cess of  transmitting  an  order.  If  this  occur 


56 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


before  its  correct  reception  is  assured  by  re- 
peating back  and  giving  and  acknowledging 
"O  K"  for  any  office  concerned,  the  process 
is  not  sufficiently  complete  for  the  men 
of  a  train  at  such  office  to  be  allowed  to 
sign  for  and  act  upon  it.  If,  therefore,  com- 
munication is  not  quickly  restored  it  is  per- 
fectly safe  and  proper  to  provide  that  an  oper- 
ator shall  permit  a  train,  in  such  case,  to  proceed 
on  its  schedule  rights  without  orders.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  "  O  K"  has  been  given  and  ac- 
knowledged, the  correct  reception  of  the  order 
is  assured,  and  a  period  is  reached  when  the  men 
of  a  train  may,  and  often  must,  be  permitted, 
on  arrival,  to  sign  for  and  act  on  the  order 
before  the  arrival  of  the  other  at  the  point 
where  the  order  is  awaiting  it.  If  the  men  of 
one  train  have  thus  proceeded,  and  the  other 
on  arrival  cannot  be  communicated  with, 
it  would  be  obviously  unsafe  for  it  to  pro- 
ceed upon  the  order  awaiting  it  for  which 
signatures  cannot  be  transmitted,  because, 
although  the  opposing  train  may  be  on  the 
way  to  execute  the  order,  this  is  not  known 
to  the  train  that  is  cut  off  from  communica- 
tion. It  would  therefore  be  improper  for  it 
to  proceed  either  in  accordance  with  the  order 
or  on  schedule  rights.  It  would  appear,  there- 
fore, that  an  order  wholly  or  partly  sent  by 
the  process  detailed,  and  for  which  4  ( 0  K  "  can- 


THE  TRANSMISSION. 


57 


not  be  given  and  acknowledged  by  reason  of  the 
telegraph  failing,  should  not  operate  to  hold 
the  train  addressed,  but  that  an  order  for  which 
UO  K"  has  been  given  and  acknowledged 
should  have  this  effect.  The  rule  should  there- 
fore be  that,  after  "  0  K"  is  given  to  an 
order  and  acknowledged,  the  train  to  which 
the  order  is  addressed  shall  not  be  permitted 
to  pass  until  the  signatures  are  transmitted 
and  "complete"  obtained,  or  until  the  train 
can  be  communicated  with  by  the  Dispatcher. 
This  is  based,  of  course,  upon  the  presumption 
that  the  plan  is  followed  of  assuring  the  accu- 
rate transmission  for  both  trains,  and  that  each 
operator  has  acknowledged  the  "  O  K  "  before 
4 'complete"  is  given  to  either.  The  delays 
arising  from  the  operation  of  this  rule  cannot  be 
frequent,  and  it  is  better  to  submit  to  these  than 
to  run  the  risk  involved  in  a  different  course. 

In  the  use  of  the  "19  "  order,  to  which  the 
signatures  of  the  trainmen  are  not  taken,  the 
order  becomes  of  effect  only  when  "  complete" 
has  been  given  and  acknowledged  ;  and  until 
this  is  accomplished  it  should  be  treated  as  of 
the  same  effect  as  a  "31"  order  for  which 
"  O  K  "  has  not  been  given  and  acknowledged. 

If  the  practice  is  followed  of  delaying  the 
repeating  of  the  order  until  the  signatures  are 
obtained  and  sent,  then  the  presence  of  the  or- 
der in  the  operator's  hands  should  serve  to 


58 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


hold  either  train  if  the  telegraph  fails,  as 
neither  can  know  but  that  the  other  train  has 
received  the  order  and  proceeded  on  it.  It 
must  be  seen,  however,  that  there  is  some  risk 
in  depending  on  a  train  being  held  by  the 
mere  presence  of  an  order,  the  correct  recep- 
tion of  which  has  not  been  fully  acknowledged, 
as  the  receiving  operator  may  even  have  made 
an  error  in  receiving  the  number  of  the  train 
for  which  the  order  is  designed ;  and  this  offers 
an  additional  reason  for  repeating  back  at  once 
on  the  receipt  of  the  order.  These  considera- 
tions as  to  the  holding  effect  of  an  order  when 
the  telegraph  fails,  do  not,  of  course,  apply  to 
a  general  order,  as  one  annulling  a  train,  un- 
til such  order  is  specially  addressed  to  a  train. 
It  should  be  understood  that  operators  hold 
trains  a  reasonable  time  for  the  resumption  of 
communication  broken  during  the  transmis- 
sion of  orders. 

It  is  important  that  the  holding  effect  of 
an  order  not  signed  for  should  be  clearly  un- 
derstood, so  that  the  dispatcher  may  run 
trains  with  confidence  against  a  train  so  held. 

A  careful  Dispatcher  will  observe  that  the 
inconveniences  arising  from  a  train  being  held 
by  the  incomplete  transmission  of  an  order 
will  be  greater  as  the  distance  is  greater  be- 
tween the  point  to  which  the  order  is  sent  for 
delivery  and  the  point  where  it  is  to  take  effect. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

EULES. 

Many  books  of  Rules  have  borne  evidence 
that  the  ability  to  construct  rules  is  not  always 
commensurate  with  the  many  other  gifts  of 
successful  railroad  officers.  To  know  what  is 
to  be  done  and  how  is  one  thing,  but  it  is 
quite  another  to  express  the  intention  clearly 
and  concisely.  A  scholar  might  present 
the  subject  in  precise  and  grammatical 
form,  and  yet  fail  to  so  render  it  as  to  make  it 
plain  to  practical  men  of  limited  education ; 
and  yet,  while  the  language  must  be  clear  to 
the  untrained  mind,  there  should  be  no  ex- 
pressions that  are  not  within  the  bounds  of 
rhetorical  propriety.  The  evident  difficulties 
surrounding  the  subject  render  more  conspic- 
uous the  admirable  results  of  the  work  of  the 
able  committee  of  the  General  Time  Conven 
tion  in  the  production  of  the  "Standard" 
code  of  train  and  telegraph  rules  contributed 
by  that  body  to  the  railroad  service.  To  have 
produced  a  set  of  rules  that  should  be  accepted 
for  general  adoption,  in  which  so  few  deficien- 
cies have  been  pointed  out,  is  a  work  worthy 
of  the  highest  commendation.  Under  the  op- 


60  THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

eration  of  these  rules  will  disappear  the  un- 
certainty often  appearing  in  anxious  inquiries 
by  " Conductor"  or  '•  Train-Master,"  In  the 
railroad  papers,  as  to  how  this  rule  or  that  or- 
der is  to  be  understood  under  given  circum- 
stances. There  will  be  fewer  occasions  for 
trainmen  to  reconcile  conflicting  regulations 
and  fewer  cases  of  "  doubt,"  in  which  to 
u  take  the  safe  course  and  run  no  risks." 

No  one,  however,  feels  that  entire  perfection 
has  been  reached,  in  practice  or  statement,  or 
that  even  in  the  near  future,  additions  or 
changes  may  not  be  found  desirable  ;  and,  as 
methods  of  operation  improve,  scope  will 
doubtless  still  be  found  for  fresh  talent  in  the 
production  of  regulations  for  new  combina- 
tions of  circumstances  as  well  as  improvement 
in  those  prepared  by  earlier  hands. 

The  Telegraph  Rules  of  the  Time  Conven- 
tion, adopted  October  12th,  1887,  are  here 
given,  with  some  discussion  relating  to  them. 
In  considering  these  rules  mention  will  neces- 
sarily be  made  of  points  referred  to  on  previ- 
ous pages  and  which  are  here  embodied  in 
form  for  practical  use.  This  necessarily  in- 
volves some  apparent  repetition.  The  rules 
are  here  designated  by  the  numbers  given  to 
them  by  the  Time  Convention  Committee;  and 
it  may  be  here  stated  that,  in  conformity  with 
the  method  followed  in  the  Time  Convention 


RULES.  61 

train  rules,  the  term  " time-table"  is  herein 
applied  to  the  issue  governing  the  movements 
of  all  regular  trains,  while  "  schedule  "  is  used 
to  designate  that  part  of  the  time-table  which 
applies  to  any  one  train. 

RULE  500.— Special  orders  directing  movements  varying 
from  or  additional  to  the  time-table  will  be  issued  by  the  au- 
thority and  over  the  signature  of  the  Superintendent.  They 
are  not  to  be  used  for  movements  that  can  be  provided  for 
by  rule  or  time-table.  They  must  not  contain  information  or 
instructions  not  essentially  a  part  of  them. 

They  must  be  brief  and  clear,  and  the  prescribed  forms 
must  be  used  when  applicable  ;  and  there  must  be  no  erasures, 
alterations,  or  interlineations. 

This  rule  indicates  the  proper  function  of  a 
Telegraphic  Train  Order,  the  authority  under 
which  it  is  to  be  given,  and  the  essential  feat- 
ures of  its  construction,  with  the  requirement 
that  the  prescribed  forms  are  to  be  used  when 
applicable.  While  in  the  fixed  forms  provision 
is  made  for  the  majority  at  least  of  the  cases 
likely  to  occur,  occasions  will  doubtless  arise 
when  other  forms  or  modifications  of  these  will 
be  required.  It  is  therefore  important  that  the 
principles  on  which  these  forms  are  to  be  con- 
structed be  distinctly  stated.  The  provisions 
as  to  how  orders  shall  be  issued  and  as  to  the 
use  of  the  forms,  when  applicable,  and  the  ab- 
sence of  alterations,  are  all  necessary  as  tend- 
ing to  secure  uniformity  and  accuracy.  The 
following  note,  attached  by  the  Time  Conven- 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

tion  Committee,  emphasizes  a  point  hereinbe- 
fore dwelt  upon  as  of  great  importance  : 

[NOTE.— On  Roads  whose  organization  provides  that  any  other 
officer  than  the  Superintendent  shall  direct  train  movements, 
the  official  title  of  such  officer  may  be  substituted  in  the  above 
rule.  The  Committee  considers  It  essential,  however,  that  but 
one  person's  signature  should  be  used  in  directing  train  move- 
ments on  any  dispatching  division  ] 

RULE  501. — Each  order  must  be  given  in  the  same  words  to 
all  persons  or  trains  directly  affected  by  it,  so  that  each  shall 
have  a  duplicate  of  what  is  given  to  the  others.  Preferably 
an  order  should  include  but  one  specified  movement. 

Here  is  determined  the  feature  essential  to 
the  "duplicate"  system,  viz.,  that  the  order 
shall  be  "  in  the  same  words"  to  all  concerned; 
and  the  preference  is  here  grven  to  the  point 
urged  by  the  author,  of  covering  but  one  move- 
ment by  an  order. 

RULE  502. — Orders  will  be  numbered  consecutively  for  each 
day  as  issued,  beginning  with  No.  1  at  midnight. 

The  use  of  numbers  for  orders  serves  to 
identify  each  order  and  to  indicate  the  priority 
of  issue. 

RULE  503.— Orders  must  be  addressed  to  those  who  are  to 
execute  them,  naming  the  place  at  which  each  is  to  receive 
his  copy.  Those  for  a  train  must  be  addressed  to  the  con- 
ductor and  engineman,  and  also  to  a  person  acting  as  pilot. 
A  copy  for  each  person  addressed  must  be  supplied  by  the 
operator. 

The  requirement  here  that  orders  shall  be 
addressed  to  those  who  are  to  execute  them 
might  seem  superfluous  but  for  some  former 


RULES. 

looseness  in  this  respect  and  the  necessity  for 
exactness  in  prescribing  each  step  in  the  pro- 
cess of  issue.  The  address,  including  the  place 
of  delivery,  is  necessary  as  indicating,  in  simul- 
taneous transmission,  which  operators  are 
to  receive  for  those  respectively  to  whom  the 
orders  are  sent.  The  introduction  of  the  Pilot 
here  is  valuable.  As  the  one  under  whose  spe- 
cial direction  the  train  is  for  the  time  being, 
he  should  be  directly  informed  of  orders  con- 
trolling its  movements.  The  conductor  and 
engineman  who  are  in  charge  of  the  train 
subject  to  his  control,  are  also  necessarily  ad- 
vised. The  relations  of  the  Pilot  to  the  train 
are  much  the  same  as  those  of  the  pilot  to  a 
vessel  of  which  he  has  control  for  the  time 
being.  He  is  placed  there  because  of  his  hav- 
ing special  knowledge,  not  possessed  by  the 
conductor  and  engineman,  of  circumstances 
which  necessarily  affect  the  movement,  and  has 
entire  control  of  the  train  in  this  respect.  He 
may  or  may  not  be  an  engineman.  He  mayor 
may  not  run  the  engine.  He,  however,  is  to 
say  when  it  may  or  may  not  run,  and  is  the 
person  by  whose  authority  the  movements  are 
to  be  regulated  with  reference  to  the  signals 
and  the  physical  features  of  the  road  and  with 
respect  to  other  trains  as  well  as  the  established 
rules.  He  does  not  assume  the  duties  of  the 
conductor  as  to  those  things  which  are  purely 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

local  to  the  train,  and  the  brakemen  and  fire- 
man are  properly  held  to  be  under  his  orders 
through  the  conductor  and  engineman.  The 
trainmen  are  not,  by  the  presence  of  the  Pilot, 
relieved  from  the  usual  obligation  to  protect  the 
train  and  perform  other  duties  connected  with 
it  or  required  by  the  rules. 

RULE  504.— Each  order  must  be  written  in  full  in  a  book 
provided  for  the  purpose  at  the  Superintendent's  office ;  and 
with  it  must  be  recorded  the  names  of  trainmen  and 
others  who  have  signed  for  the  order,  the  time  and  signals, 
showing  when  and  from  what  offices  the  order  and  responses 
were  transmitted,  and  the  Train  Dispatcher's  initials.  These 
records  must  be  made  at  once  on  the  original  copy,  and  not 
afterward  from  memory  or  memoranda. 

The  requirement  here  as  to  the  record  of 
each  order  in  a  book  is  usually  now  fulfilled 
by  the  preservation  of  a  manifold  copy  in  the 
book  in  which  the  blanks  are  bound.  .  This,  in 
fact,  is  the  method  contemplated,  although  the 
rule  is  so  drawn  as  to  admit  of  other  methods. 
The  record  of  the  various  points  specified  is 
requisite  for  a  complete  history  of  each  trans- 
action. 

RULE  505.— The  terms  "superior  right"  and  "inferior  right" 
in  these  rules  refer  to  the  rights  of  trains  under  the  Time- 
table and  Train  Rules,  and  not  to  rights  under  Special 
Orders. 

This  rule  is  rather  an  authoritative  state- 
ment of  a  logical  conclusion  from  the  facts, 
but  very  properly  gives  this  prominence  to  a 
point  that  must  be  constantly  borne  in  mind. 


RULES.  65 

When  the  rights  of  trains  are  reversed  by  an 
order,  as  is  usually  the  case,  the  inferior  be- 
comes for  a  time  the  superior,  and  this  defini- 
tion emphasizes  this.  In  this  connection  it 
may  be  again  noted  that  a  very  important  and 
necessary  part  of  the  training  of  those  engaged 
in  operating  the  railroad  telegraph  is  the  ac- 
quisition of  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  rules 
governing  the  rights  and  movements  of  trains 
when  acting  independently  of  telegraphic  con- 
trol. The  legitimate  use  of  the  telegraph  is  to 
facilitate  movement  when,  under  the  unaided 
operation  of  the  rales,  there  might  be  delay, 
and  to  give  preference,  for  special  reasons,  to 
trains  which,  under  the  rules  are  inferior.  An 
exact  knowledge  of  the  effect  of  the  rules,  and 
what  may  be  done  by  trains  under  their  pro- 
visions, is  therefore  important,  so  that  there 
shall  be  no  unnecessary  use  of  special  orders, 
and  that  those  used  shall  be  the  most  appro- 
priate to  the  circumstances. 

RULE  506.— When  an  order  is  to  be  transmitted,  the  signal 
"  31  "  (as  provided  in  Rule  509)  or  the  signal "  19"  (as  provided 
in  Rule  511),  meaning  "  Train  Order,"  will  be  given  to  each 
office  addressed,  followed  bv  the  word  "  copy,"  and  a  figure 
indicating  the  number  of  copies  to  be  made,  if  more  or  less 
than  three— thus,  "  31  copy  5,"  or  "  19  copy  5." 

This  rule  begins  upon  the  details  of  trans- 
mission and  is  the  first  in  which  mention  is 
made  of  the  special  signals  "31"  and  "19," 
signifying  ' i  train  order, "  the  use  of  which  is 

5 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

more  fully  indicated  later  on.  We  have  here 
the  first  step  in  the  methodical  plan  of  trans- 
mission prescribed  in  these  rules,  preparing 
the  operator  for  the  reception  of  the  order  and 
informing  him  of  the  number  of  copies  for 
which  he  must  prepare  his  manifold  sheets. 
As  three  is  the  number  most  usually  required, 
the  omission  of  this  number  economizes  tele- 
graphing. In  the  same  case  the  word  4 '  copy  " 
might  as  well  be  omitted. 

RULE  507. — An  order  to  be  sent  to  two  or  more  offices  must 
be  transmitted  simultaneously  to  as  many  as  practicable. 
The  several  addresses  must  be  in  the  order  of  superiority  of 
rights  of  trains,  and  each  office  will  take  only  its  proper 
address.  When  not  sent  simultaneously  to  all,  the  order 
must  be  sent  first  for  the  train  having  the  superior  right  of 
track. 

[NOTE  —On  roads  which  desire  the  operator  at  a  meeting-point 
to  have  copies  of  the  order,  the  several  addresses  will  be, 
first,  the  operator  at  whose  station  the  tra:ns  are  to  meet  and 
next  in  the  order  of  superiority  of  the  rights  of  trains.] 

This  rule  brings  us  to  the  transmission  of 
the  order  and  requires  that  it  be  simultaneous 
as  far  as  possible.  This  is  a  safeguard  possi- 
ble only  with  the  duplicate  system.  Here  also 
the  priority  of  transmission  to  the  superior 
train  is  insisted  upon.  In  addition  to  other 
advantages,  the  systematic  naming  of  the  su- 
perior train  first  calls  the  attention  of  oper- 
ators to  the  relative  superiority  of  trains.  The 
principle  involved  here  is  elsewhere  recog- 
nized. The  note  attached  by  the  Time  Conven- 


'     RULES.  67 

tion  Committee  has  reference,  to  the  arrange- 
ment which  some  prefer  of  sending  a  copy  of 
the  order  to  the  operator  at  the  meeting-point 
in  addition  to  the  copies  sent  to  other  points 
for  delivery  to  the  trains. 

RULE  508. — Operators  receiving  orders  must  write  them  out 
in  manifold  during  transmission,  and  make  the  requisite 
number  of  copies  at  one  writing  or  trace  others  from  one  of 
the  copies  first  made. 

This  rule  directs  the  use  of  the  manifold 
writing  and  practically  dispenses  with  any 
record  book  other  than  that  in  which  the  man- 
ifold copies  are  preserved. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  important  improve- 
ments over  the  old  methods.  In  the  early  days 
of  telegraphing  and  with  some  to  a  compara- 
tively recent  period,  each  copy  of  an  order  was 
written  separately,  occupying  much  time  and 
involving  great  liability  to  error  in  transcrib- 
ing. Now  the  perfection  of  the  manifold  ad- 
mits of  making  at  one  writing  all  the  copies 
usually  required.  If  additional  copies  are 
wanted,  their  exactness  is  assured  by  tracing 
from  one  of  those  made  at  the  first  writing  It 
must  be  observed  here  that  the  rule  does  not 
permit  an  operator  to  take  the  message  down 
on  a  separate  sheet  and  make  his  manifold 
copies  afterward. 

RULE  509. — When  an  order  has  been  transmitted,  preceded 
by  the  signal  "  31,"  operators  receiving  it  must  (unless  other- 
wise directed)  repeat  it  back  at  once  from  the  manifold  copy, 


68 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


and  in  the  succession  in  which  their  several  offices  have  been 
addressed.  Each  operator  repeating  must  observe  whether 
the  others  repeat  correctly.  After  the  order  has  been  re- 
peated correctly  by  the  operators  required  at  the  time  to  re- 
peat'it,  the  response  "  O  K,"  authorized  by  the  Train  Dis- 
patcher, will  be  sent  simultaneously  to  as  many  as  practi- 
cable, naming  each  office.  Each  operator  must  write  this  on 
the  order  with  the  time,  and  then  reply  "i  i  O  K,"  with  his 
office  signal. 

Those  to  whom  the  order  is  addressed,  except  enginemen, 
must  then  sign  their  names  to  the  copy  of  the  order  to  be  re- 
tained by  the  operator,  and  he  will  send  their  signatures  to 
the  Superintendent.  The  response  "complete,"  with  the 
Superintendent's  initials,  will  then  bo  given,  when  author- 
ized by  the  Train  Dispatcher.  Each  operator  receiving  this 
response  will  then  write  on  each  copy  the  word"complete,"the 
time,  and  his  last  name  in  full ;  and  will  then  deliver  a  copy  to 
each  person  included  in  the  address,  except  enginemen, 
and  each  must  read  his  copy  aloud  to  the  operator.  The  copy 
for  each  engineman  must  be  delivered  to  nim  personally  by 
,  and  the  engineman  must  read  it  aloud  and  under- 
stand it  before  acting  upon  it. 

[NOTE.— The  blank  in  the  above  rule  may  be  filled  for  each  road  to 
suit  its  own  requirements.  On  roads  where  the  signature  of  the 
engineman  is  desired,  the  words  "  except  enginemen  "  and  the 
last  sentence  in  the  second  paragraph  may  be  omitted.  See 
also  note  under  Rule  No.  500.] 

[Individual  operator's  signals  may  be  used  when  desired  in  addi- 
tion to  office  signals,  as  here  and  elsewhere  provided  for.] 

In  this  rule  are  given  in  detail  the  steps  to 
be  taken  after  the  order  has  been  transmitted, 
this  rule  having  special  reference  to  the  orders 
for  which  signatures  of  trainmen  are  to  be 
taken,  known  technically  as  the  "  31 "  order. 
Much  of  the  efficiency  of  the  telegraph,  as  well 
as  the  safety  of  operation,  depends  upon  the 
careful  drill  of  operators  in  this  respect  and 
strict  adherence  to  the  requirements  of  the 


RULES. 


69 


rule.  Repeating  back  at  the  time  of  receiving 
may  be  properly  omitted  under  the  direction 
of  the  Dispatcher,  in  case  of  a  general  order, 
as  one  annulling  a  train.  This  would  be  sent 
to  all  stations  but  not  necessarily  delivered  at 
all,  and  therefore  repeating  back  at  once  from 
all  would  unnecessarily  occupy  the  wire.  Other 
cases  may  arise  where  the  repeating  may  be 
postponed.  In  repeating,  however,  the  re- 
quirement that  it  be  done  from  the  manifold 
copy  should  be  carefully  complied  with.  Read- 
ing, word  for  word,  from  the  copy  actually  to 
be  delivered  is  one  of  the  most  important  pre- 
cautions against  mistake.  The  succession  in 
which  offices  are  to  repeat  is  prescribed,  so  that 
all  shall  understand  it,  and  it  is  so  fixed  that 
the  repeating  shall  be  done  in  the  order  of  su- 
periority of  trains  addressed.  As  a  repeated 
order  for  which  the  UO  K"  has  been  given 
and  acknowledged  serves  to  hold  the  train  ad- 
dressed, this  secures  the  superior  train  at  once. 

The  requirement  that  operators  observe  the 
repeating  by  each  other  is  a  further  valuable 
safeguard. 

The  next  step,  that  of  transmitting  the  "  0 
K,"  is  now  prescribed  in  the  same  methodical 
way  and  its  acknowledgment  provided  for. 
Without  this  acknowledgment  the  Dispatcher 
could  not  be  sure  of  the  train  being  held, 
and  it  is  quite  important,  although  not  directed 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

in  the  rule,  that  the  acknowledgment  of  the 
"  0  K"  should  be  made  by  the  different  offices 
in  the  succession  in  which  they  were  addressed. 
This  brings  us  to  the  point  where  the  order  is 
fully  in  the  hands  of  the  operator  and  becomes 
operative  to  a  certain  extent,  as  is  seen  in  Rule 
510.  The  train  for  which  an  order  has  thus 
been  sent  may  not  have  yet  arrived.  By  the 
rule,  however,  the  signal  is  displayed  to  stop 
the  train,  and  when  it  arrives  the  conductor 
(and  the  engineman  if  required)  must  go  to  the 
office  and  sign  for  the  order.  The  signature 
(or  signatures)  must  then  be  telegraphed  to  the 
Dispatcher's  office,  and  when  found  correct  the 
final  response,  "complete,"  is  given,  signifying 
that  all  the  steps  in  telegraphing  have  been 
taken  that  are  necessary  before  delivery.  It 
still  remains  for  the  receiving  operator  to  re- 
cord the  u  complete"  on  the  order,  with  the 
time  and  his  name,  all  of  which  are  important 
for  the  completion  of  a  paper  which  involves 
the  safety  of  human  life.  It  is  still,  however, 
possible  that  those  who  are  to  use  this  import- 
ant paper  may  fail  to  observe  its  full  signifi- 
cation, and  it  is  therefore  provided,  as  a  final 
precaution,  that  each  one  who  receives  it  shall 
read  it  aloud  to  the  operator,  who  has  his  own 
copy  before  him.  This  is  better  than  reading 
by  the  operator  to  the  trainmen,  as  they  might 
not  listen  attentively,  while  they  can  hardly 


RULES. 


71 


fail  to  note  the  signification  of  words  which 
they  themselves  read  aloud. 

The  notes  appended  by  the  Time  Convention 
Committee  point  out  modifications  which  may 
be  made  with  respect  to  certain  points  in  which 
difference  of  practice  prevails  and  which  do  not 
affect  the  essential  features  of  the  plan. 

The  author  believes  that  the  weight  of  senti- 
ment is  decidedly  in  favor  of  taking  the  signa- 
ture of  the  engine  man  as  well  as  that  of  the  con- 
ductor for  the  order,  unless  controlling  circum- 
stances prevent. 

RULE  510. — For  an  order  preceded  by  the  signal  "31," 
"  complete  "  must  not  be  given  to  the  order  for  delivery  to  a 
train  of  inferior  right  until  "OK"  has  been  given  to  and  ac- 
knowledged by  the  operator  who  receives  the  order  for  the 
train  of  superior  right.  Whenever  practicable,  the  signature 
of  the  conductor  of  the  train  of  superior  right  must  be  taken 
to  the  order  and  "  complete  "  given  before  the  train  of  inferior 
right  is  allowed  to  act  on  it. 

After  "OK''  has  been  given  and  acknowledged,  and  before 
"  complete  "  has  been  given,  the  order  must  be  treated  as  a 
holding  order  for  the  train  addressed,  but  must  not  be  other- 
wise acted  on  until  "  complete  "  has  been  given. 

If  the  line  fails  before  an  office  has  received  and  acknowledged 
"  O  K"  to  an  order  preceded  by  the  signal  "  31,"  the  order  at 
that  office  is  of  no  effect,  and  must  be  there  treated  as  if  it 
had  not  been  sent. 

[NOTE.— On  roads  where  the  signature  of  the  engineman  and  pi- 
lot is  desired,  the  words  "  engineman  and  pilot  "  may  be  added 
after  the  word  "  conductor"  in  the  first  paragraph  of  Rule  510.] 

Rule  510  presents  a  requirement  of  very 
great  importance  in  prescribing  that  "  com- 
plete" shall  not  be  given  for  the  inferior  train 
until  "0  K"  has  been  given  and  acknowl- 


72 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


edged  for  the  superior.  The  reason  for  this  is 
apparent  from  the  following  considerations : 
When  "  complete"  has  been  given,  the  train 
receiving  an  order  on  which  it  is  indorsed  may 
at  once  proceed  to  the  execution  of  the  order. 
If  it  has  rights  given  to  it  against  a  superior 
train,  it  is  of  the  highest  importance  that  the 
latter  shall  be  informed  of  this  before  it  can 
proceed  to  a  point  where  the  order  may  bring 
the  inferior  into  conflict  with  the  rights  of 
the  other.  After  "  O  K  "  has  been  given  and 
acknowledged  for  the  order  at  the  point  where 
the  superior  train  is  to  receive  it,  the  order 
"  holds  "  the  superior  train,  as  provided  in  the 
second  paragraph,  and  it  is  only  then  safe  to 
permit  the  inferior  train  to  proceed,  by  giving 
for  it  the  final  word  "  complete."  It  would 
be  still  better  if  in  all  cases  the  signatures  of 
the  men  of  the  superior  train  could  be  taken 
before  the  other  is  permitted  to  act  on  the  or- 
der. The  rule  requires  this  ' ( whenever  prac- 
ticable." It  is,  however,  often  not  practicable 
on  account  of  the  varying  and  often  considera- 
ble distances  between  telegraph  stations,  the 
varying  speed  of  trains,  and  unforeseen  and 
unpreventable  delays.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
any  reasonable  expenditure  in  increasing  the 
number  of  offices  would  admit  of  absolute 
compliance  with  such  a  requirement,  but  it  is 
quite  true  that  any  expenditure  at  all  ap- 


RULES.  73 

preaching  what  this  would  require  would 
be  much  beyond  the  ability  of  the  major- 
ity of  railroads.  It  is  also  true  that,  at  least 
without  enormous  additions  to  the  facilities, 
a  strict  requirement  of  this  kind  would  inter- 
fere with  the  movement  of  trains  to  an  extent 
that  the  patrons  of  the  roads  would  never 
agree  to.  If  the  plan  provided  in  the  rules 
really  involves  any  risk  in  this  respect,  it  is 
one  which  cannot  be  avoided  in  the  present 
state  of  financial  ability  and  of  the  means  of 
moving  trains. 

The  closing  paragraph  of  the  rule  provides 
for  the  contingency  of  the  failure  of  telegraphic 
communication  at  a  critical  moment  in  the 
transmission. 

An  order  may  have  been  fully  received  by 
an  operator,  but,  if  the  telegraph  fails  before 
he  can  repeat  it  back  and  be  informed  by  the 
Dispatcher  that  it  is  "  O  K,"  it  would  not  be 
safe  to  use  it.  Neither  is  it  proper  that  it 
should  have  any  effect  whatever  until  the  Dis- 
patcher is  assured,  by  the  acknowledgment  of 
the  "OK,'3  that  it  has  been  received.  When 
an  order  has  been  transmitted  and  is  altogether 
in  the  hands  of  the  operator,  there  is  the 
chance  that  he  may  have  written  down  some 
important  word  incorrectly.  Hence  the  re- 
quirement that  he  repeat  it  back.  This,  if  care- 
fully performed,  assures  the  Dispatcher  of  the 


<*  THE  TRAIN  WIRE, 

verbal  accuracy  of  the  message  as  the  operator 
has  it,  and  the  Dispatcher  admits  this  by  the 
response  "OK."  He  must  now  act,  with  ref- 
erence to  this  train,  as  if  it  were  held  at  the 
point  at  which  it  is  addressed.  But  he  cannot 
assume  this  until  he  is  assured  that  "OK" 
has  been  received.  This  is  by  the  required  ac- 
knowledgment. 

If  communication  absolutely  fails  before  the 
completion  of  this  process,  all  that  he  has  done 
goes  for  nothing  unless  communication  is 
quickly  restored.  It  is  of  the  utmost  import- 
ance that  the  Dispatcher  know  what  will 
or  will  not  be  done  by  a  train  to  which  an 
order  has  been  addressed,  as  this  knowledge 
guides  him  in  giving  other  orders.  It  would 
not  be  proper,  even,  to  assume  that  a 
train  would  be  held  by  the  presence  of  an 
order  addressed  to  it  unless  the  accuracy  of 
the  order  is  assured,  for  an  error  may  have 
occurred  in  receiving  the  address  and  the 
wrong  train  number  may  have  been  noted. 
Nor  will  it  do  for  a  train  to  proceed  regardless 
of  an  order  addressed  to  it  when  the  whole 
process  of  transmission  cannot  be  completed, 
unless  the  rule  authorizing  it  is  made  to 
specify  the  precise  point  in  the  process  of 
transmission  when  this  may  be  permitted. 
It  is  also  of  equal  importance  that,  in  the 
absence  of  telegraphic  communication  with 


RULES. 

a  train,  the  Dispatcher  can  depend  upon  the 
fact  that  it  will  act  in  accordance  with 
the  rules,  notwithstanding  a  partial  trans- 
mission of  an  order  intended  to  control  its 
movements.  Briefly,  he  must  know  whether 
the  train  retains  the  right  to  proceed  or  not, 
and  under  what  conditions,  or  he  cannot  in- 
telligently direct  other  trains  with  reference 
to  it.  The  question  how  long  a  train  should 
wait  for  communication  to  be  restored  must 
depend  upon  so  many  circumstances  that  no 
rule  can  be  given.  The  "break "  may  be  but 
momentary  or  it  may  last  for  hours.  The 
train  may  have  just  time  to  get  to  a  regular 
meeting-place,  at  which,  if  reached  in  time,  it 
may  have  to  lie  for  belated  trains.  Rules  must 
fail  here  to  indicate  what  is  best  to  be  done, 
and  often  the  best  judgment  is  no  guide. 
Whatever  is  determined  on  may  involve  de- 
lay. It  should  never  involve  danger. 

There  is  a  plan  in  use  on  several  prominent 
roads  by  which  it  is  claimed  that  the  objec- 
tionable feature  in  Rule  510,  represented  by 
the  phrase  "whenever  practicable,"  may  be 
eliminated.  Under  this  plan  there  is  added 
an  " advance"  order,  issued  to  the  superior 
train,  directing  it  to  stop  "for  orders"  at  a 
point  where  it  is  intended  to  deposit  for  it  the 
duplicate  of  a  meeting  or  other  order  on  which 
an  inferior  train  is  to  be  permitted  to  proceed 


THE  T&AIN  WIRE. 

from  some  other  point  before  the  order 
is  received  by  the  superior  train.  By  this 
plan  the  superior  train  is  "held"  before  the 
inferior  is  allowed  to  act  on  the  order,  and  thus 
far  the  risk  is  avoided  of  the  superior  being  im- 
properly allowed  to  pass  the  point  where  the 
duplicate  order  is  to  be  placed  for  it.  It  is 
claimed  that  a  considerable  experience  has 
demonstrated  that  this  plan  is  feasible  and 
secures  the  object  in  view,  and  that  with  it 
the  rule  of  always  first  securing  the  superior 
train  may  be  made  absolute.  Experience  is 
one  of  the  best  of  teachers,  and  few  theories 
can  be  taken  as  proved  without  it,  but  even 
imperfect  methods  may  produce  good  results 
under  careful  management,  so  that  experience 
alone  is  not  sufficient  for  determining  the 
merits  of  a  system. 

The  purpose  of  the  plan  in  question,  to 
"hold"  the  superior  train  before  giving  or- 
ders against  it  is  good,  and  what  all  wish  to 
accomplish.  This  idea  gave  rise  to  the  "hold" 
order  of  the  older  methods  of  train  dispatch- 
ing and  it  has  been  suggested  that  under  the 
advance-order  plan  there  is  danger  of  a  relapse 
from  strict  adherence  to  the  duplicate  method. 
Careful  supervision  may  prevent  this. 

If  the  advance  order  is  invariably  given,  op- 
erators may  get  to  depending  on  it  rather  than 
on  their  own  care  for  stopping  trains  at  points 


where  duplicates  are  deposited.  This  is  a 
point  to  be  carefully  considered  and  on  which 
the  railroad  fraternity  will  be  by  no  means 
agreed.  Two  things  are  depended  on.  If  one 
fails  we  have  the  other.  Many  hold  that  this 
is  better  than  to  rely  on  one  alone.  Many, 
again,  maintain  that,  where  the  responsibility 
is  thus  divided,  each  party  may  depend  on 
the  other  and  both  fail,  while,  if  there  is  but 
one,  his  sense  of  responsibility  is  quickened 
and  the  result  is  better.  In  view  of  the  differ- 
ence of  opinion  on  this  point  it  may  be  said 
that  if  this  be  the  only  point  in  the  consid- 
eration of  the  advance  order  it  may  be  given  a 
trial. 

If  it  is  to  be  tried,  then  we  must  see  that 
there  are  no  exceptions  to  its  use.  The  Dis- 
patcher must  always  anticipate  possible  con- 
tingencies long  enough  ahead  to  be  able  to 
designate  in  advance  the  points  where  trains 
are  to  stop  for  orders,  Land  he  must  do  this 
before  the  necessity  arises  of  allowing  the  in- 
ferior train  to  proceed  on  orders  which  the  su- 
perior trains  are  subsequently  to  receive.  If 
he  cannot  thus  anticipate  he  must  still  give 
the  order  to  stop  for  orders  and  send  it  to  the 
point  to  which  the  meeting-order  is  sent,  both 
to  be  delivered  to  the  superior  at  the  same 
time  ;  and  in  that  case  he  must  depend  upon 
the  signal  at  that  point  for  stopping  the  train, 


78 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


as  in  the  Standard  rules,  or  always  keep  the 
inferior  train  from  acting  on  the  order  until 
the  orders  for  the  other  train  are  delivered. 

Again,  a  train  for  which  it  is  thought  meet- 
ing-orders may  have  to  be  given  must  make  a 
stop  in  order  to  get  the  advance  order,  and 
again  another  at  the  point  named  in  it,  perhaps 
only  that  it  may  receive  an  order  annulling 
the  first,  if  meeting-orders  are  found  not  to  be 
needed.  Frequently  a  duplicate  order  may 
be  placed  for  a  train  and  annulled  before  its 
arrival  if  the  occasion  for  it  has  passed,  but 
the  advantage  of  this  is  lost  if  the  advance 
order  is  used. 

There  are  many  roads  on  which  the  circum- 
stances would  not  admit  of  thus  always  seeing 
far  enough  in  advance  the  things  to  be  done, 
and  very  many  on  which  the  business  would 
not  admit  of  the  stops  necessary,  and  the  oc- 
currence of  a  single  exception  would  vitiate 
the  whole  and  make  it  necessary  to  fall  back 
on  the  provision  u  whenever  practicable." 

It  is  not  easy  to  see  how  the  rule  could  be 
invariably  applied  at  junction  points  at 
which  trains  of  superior  right  are  to  arrive 
from  other  roads  or  divisions,  and  circum- 
stances are  so  various  that  it  is  difficult 
to  determine  just  where  such  a  plan  could 
or  could  not  be  satisfactorily  applied.  Some 
say  they  have  succeeded  with  it.  Others  point 


RULES. 


79 


out  quite  conclusively  that  the  circumstances 
with  them  are  such  that  it  would  be  impracti- 
cable. Where  it  can  be  applied  and  used 
without  exception  and  the  question  of  divided 
responsibility  can  be  satisfactorily  disposed  of, 
it  is,  to  say  the  least,  an  experiment  in  the 
right  direction,  but  it  is  to  be  very  much  feared 
that  this  plan  does  not  yet  supply  the  universal 
remedy  for  the  difficulty  involved  in  the  phrase 
' '  whenever  practicable. ' '  The  multiplication 
of  messages  on  a  busy  wire  will  occur  to  all 
as  a  serious  objection,  but  scarcely  as  one  that 
should  weigh  against  positive  considerations 
of  safety. 

RULE  511.— When  an  order  has  been  transmitted,  preceded 
by  the  signal  "  19,"  operators  receiving  it  must  (unless  other- 
wise directed)  repeat  it  back  at  once  from  the  manifold  copy, 
and  in  the  succession  in  which  the  several  offices  have  been 
addressed.    Each  operator  repeating  must  observe  whether 
the  others  repeat  correctly.    After  the  order  has  been  re- 
peated correctly,  the  response  "  complete,"  with  the  Superin- 
tendent's initials,  will  be  given,  when  authorized  by  the 
Train  Dispatcher.     Each  operator  receiving  this  response 
must  write  on  each  copy  the  word  "  complete,"  the  time,  and 
his  last  name  in  full,  and  reply  "  i  i  complete  "  with  his  office 
signal,  and  will  personally  deliver  the  order  to  the  persons 
addressed,  without  taking  their  signatures. 
[NOTE.— On  roads  where  it  is  desired,  the  signatures  of  the  con- 
ductors (or  conductors,  enginemen,  and  pilots)  may  be  taken  by 
the  operator  on  the  delivery  of  the  order.    See  also  note  under 
Rule  500.    The  Committee  has  recommended  two  forms  of  train 
orders— the  "31"  order  and  the  "19"  order  ;  leaving  it  discre- 
tionary with  the  roads  to  adopt  one  or  both  of  these  forms.] 

This  nil 3  provides  for  the  steps  in  transmis- 
sion of  the  "  19  "   order,  for  which  signatures 


80 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


of  trainmen  are  not  required,  as  Rule  509  does 
for  the  "  31"  order.  The  steps  are  the  same 
excepting  as  to  the  "0  K  "  and  its  acknowledg- 
ment and  the  signatures.  The  same  general  con- 
siderations apply  to  the  steps  which  are  identi- 
cal. The  absence  of  the  requirement  as  to 
signatures  renders  the  UOK"  unnecessary, 
the  "  complete  "  being  the  Dispatcher's  notice 
both  that  the  order  has  been  correctly  repeated 
and  that  it  maybe  delivered  after  "complete  " 
has  been  acknowledged,  which  should  be  in 
the  succession  in  which  offices  are  addressed. 
The  responsibility  of  delivery  to  the  right 
parties  is  placed  on  the  operator. 

The  use  of  this  method,  rather  than  that  un- 
der which  trainmen  sign  for  the  order,  has 
been  the  subject  of  much  serious  thought  and 
discussion.  In  either  case  the  "danger"  sig- 
nal and  the  carefulness  of  the  operator  are  the 
means  depended  on  for  stopping  a  train  for 
which  an  order  has  been  transmitted.  The 
difference  is  in  the  mode  of  delivery.  If  sig- 
natures are  taken  the  men  must  take  the  time 
to  go  to  the  office.  If  they  are  not  taken  the 
men  may  go  to  the  office  or  the  operator  may 
go  out  to  deliver.  The  train  may  perhaps  not 
stop  entirely.  In  any  event  the  delivery  is 
likely  to  be  hasty  and  without  careful  inspec- 
tion of  the  order  by  those  who  receive  it.  A 
conservative  view  would  seem  to  indicate  that 


RULES.  81 

there  were  some  risk  in  this,  and  yet  many  ex- 
perienced officers  do  not  look  upon  it  in  that 
light,  and  on  roads  having  heavy  traffic  and 
many  fast  trains  this  method  is  used  with  sat- 
isfactory results. 

The  real  solution  of  the  question  may  be  in 
careful  supervision,  good  discipline,  correct 
habits,  and  strict  attention  to  business.  In 
these  lies  safety ;  in  the  opposite,  danger. 

It  will  be  observed  that  a  note  of  the  Time 
Convention  Committee,  attached  to  the  rule 
and  here  shown,  indicates  that  the  adoption  of 
either  form  or  both  is  discretionary  with 
roads  adopting  the  " Standard"  rules,  and 
that  it  is  suggested  that  it  may  be  provided 
that  operators  shall  take  the  signatures  of 
trainmen  for  "19"  orders.  These  would  be 
simply  evidence  of  delivery,  and  the  signatures 
would  not,  under  this  arrangement,  be  tele- 
graphed to  headquarters. 

The  question  as  to  when  it  is  best  or  proper 
to- use  the  "  19  "  order  must  be  determined  by 
circumstances.  Taking  and  transmitting  the 
signatures  is  intended  to  secure  deliberate  care 
in  the  delivery  and  certainty  that  the  older  is 
delivered  to  the  right  train. 

The  first  is  reasonably  certain  when  the 
trainmen  are  required  to  go  to  the  office  and 
sign  for  the  order  ;  the  second  is  determined 
by  the  transmission  of  the  signatures.  Those 


°*  THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

who  use  the  "  19  "  order  must  leave  both  these 
points  to  the  care  of  the  operator.  If  oper- 
ators are  thoroughly  drilled  and  under  con- 
stant and  careful  supervision,  and  so  fully  oc- 
cupied with  the  work  as  to  be  necessarily  al- 
ways on  the  alert,  this  dependence  is  more 
likely  to  result  favorably  than  where  disci- 
pline is  slack  and  business  dull,  and  especially 
where  the  operator  is  required  to  attend  to 
other  duties.  Circumstances  may  often  seem 
to  require  the  delivery  of  an  order  without 
signatures  where  the  contrary  is  the  usual 
custom.  It  would  be  necessary  in  such  case 
to  use  special  precautions  in  instructing  the 
operator,  and  it  should  scarcely  be  allowed 
without  special  authority  from  the  responsible 
head. 

RULE  512.— For  an  order  preceded  by  the  signal  "19,"  "com- 
plete "  must  be  given  and  acknowledged  for  the  train  of  su- 
perior right  before  it  is  given  for  the  train  of  inferior  right. 

If  the  line  fails  before  an  office  has  received  and  acknowl- 
edged the  "complete"  to  an  order  preceded  by  the  signal  "19," 
the  order  at  that  office  is  of  no  effect,  and  must  be  treated  as 
if  it  had  not  been  sent. 

This  rule  is  for  the  "19"  order  what  Rule 
510  is  for  the  other,  and  no  additional  remarks 
are  needed. 

RULE  513.— The  order,  the  "O  K  "  and  the  "complete" 
must  each,  in  transmitting,  be  preceded  by  "  31 "  or  "  19,"  as 
the  case  may  be,  and  the  number  of  the  order  ;  thus,  "  31, 
No.  10,"  or  "  19,  No.  10."  In  transmitting  the  signature  of  a 
conductor  it  must  be  preceded  by  "  31,"  the  number  of  the 


RULES.  83 

order,  and  the  train  number  ;  thus,  "  31,  No.  10,  Train  No.  5." 
After  each  transmission  and  response  the  sending  operator 
must  give  his  office  signal. 

Here  is  prescribed  the  succession  in  which 
the  signals,  etc.,  shall  be  transmitted.  For  the 
"office  signal,"  which  the  operator  is  required 
to  give  after  each  transmission  and  response, 
some  substitute  the  personal  signal  of  the  op- 
erator, which  is  usually  one  or  more  letters  as- 
signed, by  which  the  operator  shall  be  known, 
and  indicates  at  the  same  time  the  operator  and 
the  office  where  he  is  known  to  be  on  duty. 

RULE  514.— The  operator  who  receives  and  delivers  an  or- 
der must  preserve  the  lowest  copy.  On  this  must  appear  the 
signatures  of  those  who  sign  for  the  order,  and  on  it  he  must 
record  the  time  when  he  receives  it ;  the  responses  ;  the  time 
when  they  are  received  ;  his  own  name ;  tae  date  ;  and  the 
train  number ;  for  which  places  are  provided  in  the  blanks. 
These  copies  must  be  sent  to  the  Superintendent. 

The  subjects  treated  of  in  this  rule  have  been 
sufficiently  considered  in  former  re  marks. 

RULE  515.— Orders  used  by  conductors  must  be  sent  by 
them  daily  to  the  Superintendent. 

This  provision  affords  an  opportunity  of  ex- 
amining orders  that  have  been  used,  and  of  as- 
certaining whether  they  have  been  prepared 
and  issued  in  accordance  with  the  rules. 

RULE  516. — Enginemen  will  place  their  orders  in  the  clip 
before  them  until  executed. 

This  rule  supposes  that  a  place  has  been  pro- 
vided on  each  engine  for  placing  orders  con- 


84 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


spicuously  before  the  engineman  who  is  to  ex- 
ecute them.  This  is  a  very  important  provi- 
sion. If  hje  has  to  put  them  in  his  box  or 
pocket  they  may  be  rendered  illegible,  or  for- 
gotten or  lost. 

RULE  517. — For  orders  delivered  at  the  Superintendent's 
office  the  requirements  as  to  record  and  delivery  will  be  the 
same  as  at  other  points. 

This  requirement  would  seem  to  be  so  obvi- 
ous that  it  was  hardly  necessary  to  include  it 
in  the  rules,  but  for  the  fact  that  there  has 
been  some  oversight  of  so  manifest  a  precau- 
tion. 

RULE  518.— Orders  to  persons  in  charge  of  work  requiring 
the  use  of  track  in  yards  or  at  other  points,  authorizing  such 
use  when  trains  are  late,  must  be  delivered  in  the  same  way 
as  to  conductors  of  trains. 

This  rule  recognizes  the  fact  that  the  same 
care  is  necessary  in  giving  the  use  of *  the  track 
in  the  time  of  regular  trains,  whether  it  be  to 
a  yard  crew  or  a  train  on  the  road.  Careless- 
ness in  this  respect,  by  men  working  at  sta- 
tions, has  frequently  resulted  in  disaster.  The 
sacredness  of  the  "rights"  of  trains  should  be 
an  integral  part  of  railway  doctrine. 

RULE  519. — An  order  to  be  delivered  to  a  train  at  a  point 
not  a  telegraph  station,  or  while  the  office  is  closed,  must  be 
addressed  to 

"C.  and  E.,  No.  -  -  (at  —  — ),  care  of  ," 

and  forwarded  and  delivered  by  the  conductor  or  other  per- 
son in  whose  care  it  is  addressed.  "  Complete  "  will  be  given 
upon  the  signature  of  the  person  by  whom  the  order  is  to  be 


RULES. 


85 


delivered,  who  must  be  supplied  with  copies  for  the  conduc- 
tor and  eiigineman  addressed,  and  a  copy  upon  which  he 
shall  taketheir  signatures.  This  copy  he  must  deliver  to  the 
first  operator  accessible,  who  must  preserve  it,  and  at  once 
advise  the  Train  Dispatcher  of  its  having  been  received. 

Orders  so  delivered  to  a  train  must  be  compared  by  those 
receiving  them  with  the  copy  held  by  the  person  deliver- 
ing, and  acted  on  as  if  "complete1'  had  been  given  in  the 
ordinary  way. 

Orders  must  not  be  sent  in  the  manner  herein  provided 
to  trains  the  rights  of  which  are  thereby  restricted. 

The  subject  of  delivery  of  orders  at  points 
away  from  telegraph  stations  has  already  been 
considered.  The  method  of  doing  this  is  here 
determined. 

Safety  in  carrying  this  out  must  depend 
largely  on  the  carefulness  of  the  person  se- 
lected to  deliver  the  order. 

RULE  520.— When  a  train  is  named  in  an  order,  all  its  sec- 
tions are  included,  unless  particular  sections  are  specified  ; 
and  each  section  included  must  have  copies  addressed  and 
delivered  to  it. 

This  rule  is  based  on  the  fact  that  all  sections 
of  a  train  are  substantially  one  train,  so  far  as 
schedule  rights  are  concerned.  This  is  defi- 
nitely fixed  by  the  " Standard"  train  rules. 
This  rule  provides  that  each  section  included 
in  the  operation  of  an  order  must  ha»ve  copies. 
Instances  might  be  cited  where  this  would 
seem  unnecessary. 

A  delayed  train  may  be  ordered  to  meet  a 
superior  train  at  some  point  short  of  the  meet- 
ing-point. Without  any  order  each  section 


86 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


of  the  superior  train  would  have  a  right  to  go 
to  the  designated  point,  and  it  may  be  sup- 
posed that,  if  the  first  section  is  held  by  the 
order  at  that  point  for  the  inferior,  the  other 
sections  cannot  go  by  until  the  inferior  is  out 
of  the  way.  While  this  may  be  true,  circum- 
stances may  arise  even  in  this  case  that  would 
render  it  important  that  each  section  should 
know  of  the  movement.  The  difficulty  of 
specifying  in  a  rule  the  cases  in  which  the  pro- 
vision might  be  omitted  probably  led  to 
making  the  rule  absolute.  It  is  pointed  out, 
however,  by  practical  men  that  serious  and 
needless  delays  may  often  arise  from  strict 
adherence  to  the  rule,  and  that  in  certain  cases 
there  can  be  no  danger  from  giving  the  order 
to  the  leading  section  only.  It  is  quite  possi- 
ble that  the  rule  may  admit  of  some  amend- 
ment in  this  respect. 

RULE  521.—  Meeting-orders  must  not  be  sent  for  delivery 
to  trains  at  the  meeting-point  if  it  can  be  avoided.  When 
it  cannot  be  avoided,  special  precautions  must  be  taken 
by  the  Train  Dispatchers  and  operators  to  insure  safety. 

There  should  be,  if  possible,  at  least  one  telegraph  office  be- 
tween those  at  which  opposing  trains  receive  meeting-orders. 

Orders  should  not  be  sent  an  unnecessarily  long  time  before 
delivery,  or  to  points  unnecessarily  distant  from  where  they 
are  to  be  executed.  No  orders  (except  those  affecting  the 
train  at  that  point)  should  be  delivered  to  a  freight  train 
at  a  station  where  it  has  much  work,  until  after  the  work 
is  done. 

Here  it  is  wisely  provided  that  trains  shall, 
if  possible,  be  advised  of  their  place  of  meet- 


RULES. 


87 


ing  before  reaching  it.  It  is  scarcely  necessary 
to  point  out  the  obvious  reasons  for  this,  arising 
from  the  possibility  of  a  train,  on  arrival,  pass- 
ing the  switch  where  the  meeting  is  intended 
to  be.  The  first  and  second  paragraphs  both 
suggest  the  advantage  of  being  able  to  commu- 
nicate with  a  train  in  the  event  of  a  desire  to 
change  an  order  or  of  an  error  having  been 
found  to  have  occurred  on  the  part  of  a  train 
or  in  the  preparation  or  transmission  of  an 
order.  The  third  paragraph  is  to  guard  against 
men  forgetting  orders  delivered  to  them, 
through  lapse  of  time  or  preoccupation  in  their 
work,  and  also  against  the  necessity  of  chang- 
ing orders  issued  long  in  advance  of  the  time 
at  which  they  are  expected  to  be  used,  when  a 
new  set  of  circumstances  may  have  arisen. 

RULE  522.— A  train,  or  any  section  of  a  train,  must  be  gov- 
erned strictly  by  the  terms  of  orders  addressed  to  it,  and 
must  not  assume  rights  not  conferred  by  such  orders.  In  all 
other  respects  it  must  be  governed  by  the  train  rules  and 
time-table. 

To  some  disciplinarians  the  provisions  of 
this  rule  would  seem  to  be  unnecessary.  To 
say  that  a  thing  means  what  it  says  and  no  more 
would  seem  to  be  superfluous,  and  yet  the 
vital  importance  of  the  point,  and  the  fact  that 
it  has  been  often  disregarded,  warrant  this  en- 
forcement of  it.  A  case  in  point  came  not  long 
since  to  the  author's  knowledge.  A  rule  in 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

the  book  of  a  certain  road  required  that  "all 
trains  must  slow  up  at  meeting-points  with 
trains  of  any  class."  The  rule  was  intended 
to  apply  to  schedule  meeting-points,  and  was 
so  generally  understood,  notwithstanding  the 
indefiniteness  of  the  designation.  An  order 
was  given  requiring  a  superior  train  to  wait 
until  a  time  stated  for  the  arrival  of  an  inferior 
train  at  a  point  reached  by  the  superior  train 
before  its  arrival  at  the  schedule  meeting- 
point.  The  inferior  train  not  arriving  by  the 
time  stated,  the  superior  train  went  on  and 
passed  the  schedule  meeting-point  without 
slackening  speed,  as  required  by  the  rule.  The 
inferior  train  was  there  and  not  quite  out  of 
the  way,  and  a  collision  occurred.  The  con- 
ductor and  engineman  of  the  superior  train 
claimed  that  the  order  to  meet  had  done  away 
with  the  schedule  meeting-point,  and  therefore 
the  rule  did  not  apply,  whereas  the  order  was 
provisional,  and  was  completely  fulfilled  when 
the  inferior  train  failed  to  arrive  and  the 
superior  train  went  on  past  the  point  named 
in  the  order  without  meeting  the  other.  The 
inferior,  being  unable  to  reach  the  given  point 
by  the  time  stated,  ran  on  its  rights  and 
stopped  at  the  schedule  meeting-point,  respect- 
ing which  the  order  had  made  no  mention. 

It  is  to  be  remarked  that  while  the  indefinite- 
ness  of  the  rule,  may  have  been  partly  charge- 


RULES. 

able  with  the  wrong  view  taken  by  the  train- 
men, a  strict  construction  would  make  it  appli- 
cable to  every  point  that  became  a  "  meeting- 
point,"  whether  under  the  operation  of  the 
rules  or  of  special  orders.  A  rule  capable  of 
these  different  constructions  is  fatally  de- 
fective. 

RULE  523.— Orders  once  in  effect  continue  so  until  fulfilled, 
superseded,  or  annulled.  Orders  held  by  or  issued  for  a 
regular  train  which  has  lost  its  rights,  as  provided  by  Rule 
107,  are  annulled,  and  other  trains  will  be  governed  accord- 
ingly. 

The  first  provision  in  this  rule  is  also  one 
that  would  seem  scarcely  necessary,  but  for 
the  importance  of  emphasizing  this  point. 
Future  experience  and  training  may  render  it 
needless  to  include  so  simple  a  statement  in 
these  rules. 

Train  Rule  107,  referred  to  in  the  second 
sentence,  provides  that  a  regular  train  12 
hours  behind  time  loses  all  its  rights,  and  is 
practically  annulled. 

The  expiration  of  orders,  with  the  expira- 
tion, under  the  rules,  of  the  entire  rights  of  a 
train  which  has  received  them,  is  a  necessary 
consequence,  although  to  some  it  might  not 
be  sufficiently  clear  without  this  authoritative 
statement. 

The  statement  that,  under  these  circum- 
stances, orders  "are  annulled,"  leaves  the 
mind  in  doubt  as  to  whether  they  are  simply 


90  THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

annulled  by  the  state  of  facts  or  by  the  process 
provided  for  annulling  orders.  In  the  publi- 
cation of  these  rules  as  adopted  by  the  Penn- 
sylvania Railroad  Company  this  doubt  is  re- 
moved by  modifying  the  language  to  read, 
u  Orders  held  by  or  issued  for  a  regular  train 
are  to  be  considered  as  annulled  when  the 
train  has  lost  its  rights,  as  provided  by  Rule 
No.  107,  and  other  trains  will  be  governed 
accordingly." 

The  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  road  adds  to  Train 
Rule  107  a  provision  that  a  train  having  the 
right  of  track  may  take  to  a  telegraph  station 
a  train  that  under  this  rule  has  lost  the  right 
to  proceed.  This  seems  a  good  provision,  as 
such  train  has  no  right  to  proceed  even  as  an 
extra,  and  under  many  circumstances  the  Dis- 
patcher would  have  difficulty  in  getting  con- 
trol of  a  train  without  this  help.  The  dis- 
cussion of  this  belongs,  however,  more  prop- 
erly with  the  consideration  of  train  rules. 

RULE  524  (A).— A  fixed  signal  must  be  used  at  each  train- 
order  office,  which  shall  display  red  at  all  times  when  there 
is  an  operator  on  duty,  except  when  changed  to  white  to 
allow  a  train  to  pass  after  getting  orders,  or  for  which  there 
are  no  orders. 

When  red  is  displayed  all  trains  must  come  to  a  full  stop, 
and  not  proceed  as  long  as  red  is  displaj  ed.  The  signal  must 
be  returned  to  red  as  soon  as  a  train  has  passed.  It  must 
only  be  fastened  at  white  when  no  operator  is  on  duty.  This 
signal  must  also  display  red  to  hold  trains  running  in  the 
same  direction  the  required  time  apart.  Operators  must  be 
prepared  with  other  signals  to  use  promptly  if  the  fixed  sig- 


RULES.  91 

nal  should  fail  to  work  properly.  If  a  signal  is  not  displayed 
at  a  night  office,  trains  which  have  not  been  previously 
notified  must  stop  and  inquire  the  cause,  and  report  the 
facts  to  the  superintendent  from  the  next  open  telegraph 
office. 

When  a  semaphore  is  used,  the  arm  means  red  when  hor- 
izontal and  white  when  in  an  inclined  position. 

RULE  524  (B)  — A  fixed  signal  must  be  used  at  each  train- 
order  office,  which  shall  display  red  when  trains  are  to  be 
stopped  for  orders.  When  there  are  no  orders  the  signal 
must  display  white. 

When  an  operator  receives  the  signal" 31  "or  "19,"  he 
must  immediately  display  red,  and  then  reply  "  red  dis- 
played." The  signal  must  not  be  changed  to  white  until  the 
object  for  which  red  is  displayed  is  accomplished. 

While  red  is  displayed  all  trains  must  come  to  a  full  stop, 
and  any  train  thus  stopped  must  not  proceed  without  re- 
ceiving an  order  addressed  to  such  train,  or  a  clearance  card 
on  a  specified  form,  stating,  over  the  operator's  signature, 
that  he  has  no  orders  for  it.  Operators  must  be  prepared 
with  other  signals  to  use  promptly  if  the  fixed  signal  should 
fail  to  work  properly.  If  a  signal  is  not  displayed  at  a 
night  office,  trains  which  have  not  been  previously  noti- 
fied must  stop  and  inquire  the  cause,  and  report  the  facts  to 
the  superintendent  from  the  next  open  telegraph  office. 

When  a  semaphore  is  used,  the  arm  means  red  when  hor- 
izontal and  white  when  in  an  inclined  position. 

Rules  524( A)  and  524(B)  refer  to  the  character 
and  operation  of  the  train- order  signal,  and  in 
the  original  report  of  the  committee  they  are 
accompanied  by  a  note  indicating  that  the 
adoption  of  either  or  both  forms  of  the  rule  is 
to  be  discretionary,  according  to  the  circum- 
stances of  traffic. 

Both  recognize  the  value  of  the  "  fixed" 
signal,  instead  of  hand  signals,  and  its  neces- 
sity for  the  proper  carrying  out  of  the  rules. 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

The  difference  between  the  two  forms  of  the 
rule  is  that  the  former  provides  that  the  sig- 
nal shall  stand  constantly  at  "danger,"  ex- 
cepting when  changed  to  another  position  to 
permit  a  train  to  pass,  while  with  the  latter 
the  normal  position  is  at  "  safety,"  the  other 
to  be  shown  only  when  an  order  is  to  be 
sent. 

Under  the  first  plan  a  train  approaching  a 
station  must  stop  unless  the  signal  is  seen  to 
have  been  changed  from  its  normal  position  of 
" danger"  to  that  of  C4  safety"  —from  red  to 
white.  The  operator  in  this  case  moves  the 
signal  and  this  is  an  indication  that  there  are 
no  orders  for  that  train,  although  there  may 
be  for  others. 

The  presence  of  an  order  in  the  hands  of  an 
operator  does  not,  under  this  method,  require 
that  all  trains  passing  shall  stop.  Under  the 
other  plan  the  signal  at  red  indicates  that  the 
operator  has  orders  in  his  hands,  and  no  train 
can  be  allowed  to  pass  by  the  simple  moving 
of  the  signal,  but  each,  on  arrival,  must  stop 
and  get  orders,  or  a  "  clearance  card  "  stating 
that  there  are  no  orders  for  it. 

Some  considerations  respecting  these  two 
methods  have  already  been  advanced,  and  they 
need  not  be  repeated  here.  There  does  not 
seem  to  be  any  substantial  reason  why  the 
practice  of  permitting  a  train  to  pass,  by  the 


&ULES. 


93 


movement  of  the  signal,  might  not  be  used  in 
connection  with  the  plan  of  "  normal  at  safety" 
as  well  as  with  the  other,  and  the  author  is 
under  the  impression  that  this  is  done  on  some 
roads. 

The  rule  wisely  requires  a  provision  of  other 
signals  for  prompt  use  in  case  the  fixed  signal 
fails  to  work.  The  machinery  may  break  or 
the  lights  go  out ;  and  to  see  that  this  precau- 
tion is  observed  is  an  important  duty  of  the 
officer  having  direct  supervision  of  these  mat- 
ters .  The  non-display  of  a  usual  night  signal  is 
recognized  as  a  reason  for  inquiry  and  caution. 

RULE  525.— Operators  will  promptly  record  and  report  to 
the  Superintendent  the  time  of  the  departure  of  all  trains 
and  the  direction  in  which  extra  trains  are  moving.  They 
will  record  the  time  of  arrival  of  trains  and  report  it  when 
so  directed. 

The  records  and  reports  here  required  are 
important  as  a  means  of  information  for  the 
Dispatcher  and  as  a  check  on  operators  and 
trains  as  well  as  a  part  of  the  permanent  record. 
Suitable  blanks  must  be  provided  for  these 
records. 

RULE  526.— Regular  trains  will  be  designated  in  orders  by 
their  schedule  numbers,  as  "  No.  10"  or  "  2nd  No.  10,"  adding 
engine  numbers  if  desired  ;  extra  trains  by  engine  num- 
bers, as  "  Extra  798  ";  and  all  other  numbers  by  figures. 
The  direction  of  the  movement  of  extras  will  be  added 
when  necessary,  as  *'  East "  or  "  West."  Time  will  be 
stated  in  figures  only. 

[NOTE.— In  case  any  roads  desire  to  state  time  in  words  as  well  as 
figures,  the  Committee  sees  no  objection  to  their  doing  so.] 


94 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


RULE  527.— The  following  signs  and  abbreviations  may  be 
used: 

Initials  for  Superintendent's  signature. 

Such  office  and  other  signals  as  are  arranged  by  the 

Superintendent. 

C  &  E — for  Conductor  and  Engineman. 
O  K — as  provided  in  these  rules. 
Min— for  Minutes. 
June — for  Junction. 
Frt— for  Freight. 
No— for  number. 
Eng— for  Engine. 
Sec — for  Section. 
Opr— for  Operator. 
9 — to  clear  the  line  for  Train  Orders,  and  for  Operators 

to  ask  for  Train  Orders. 

31  or  19— for  Train  Order,  as  provided  in  the  rules. 
The  usual  abbreviations  for  the  names  of  the  months  and 

stations. 

Rules  526  and  527  prescribe  the  mode  of 
designating  trains  and  the  use  of  figures,  signs, 
and  abbreviations,  with  option  as  to  figures, 
in  a  note  under  Rule  526.  Uniformity  in  these 
matters  is  important  for  clearness  of  under- 
standing and  economy  and  expedition  in  tele- 
graphing. 

It  is  a  question  how  far  abbreviations  may 
properly  be  used  in  train  telegraphing.  They 
certainly  should  be  admitted  only  when  they 
can  be  shown  not  to  interfere  with  a  safe  under- 
standing of  orders.  Initials  for  the  signatures 
of  Superintendent  or  Dispatcher  and  operators 
may  be  used,  but  they  would  hardly  be  admis- 
sable  for  the  signatures  of  trainmen.  The  lat- 
ter may  very  properly  be  addressed  as  "  C.  and 


RULES. 


05 


E."  The  "  O  K  "  for  u  all  right "  is  an  estab- 
lished signal,  not  requiring  a  dictionary  to  in- 
terpret it. 

Min  for  minute,  June  for  junction,  exp  for 
express,  frt  for  freight,  eng  for  engine,  No 
for  number,  K  for  o'clock,  sec  for  section, 
opr  for  operator,  cannot  mislead. 

For  inquiries  and  replies  respecting  the  work, 
many  codes  have  been  constructed  wherein 
each  is  represented  by  a  number  or  a  word,  and 
the  telegraphing  thus  abbreviated. 

It  will  probably  never  be  settled  to  the 
satisfaction  of  everybody  whether  numbers 
should  be  represented  in  figures  or  written  out 
in  full.  The  opinion  of  practical  men  has  been 
lately  growing  more  favorable  to  figures,  al- 
though some  adhere  rigidly  to  writing  out 
numbers  in  words.  The  "Standard"  rules 
favor  figures.  Much  depends  of  course  on  the 
training  of  the  operators.  Figures  are  unmis- 
takable if  properly  made,  while  a  long  num- 
ber written  out  in  full  may  be  so  poorly  writ- 
ten as  to  confuse  the  reader.  Where  a  single 
figure  occurs  in  describing  a  section  of  a  train 
as  2nd,  3rd,  etc.,  it  is  easy  to  take  the  one  for 
the  other,  both  in  telegraphing  and  in  the 
written  figures,  and  it  is  wise  to  write  these 
out.  The  numbers  of  trains  and  of  engines  are 
not  so  liable  to  be  confused  with  others  in  their 
immediate  neighborhood,  and  it  would  appear 


96 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


to  be  entirely  proper  to  use  figures  to  repre- 
sent them. 

The  designation  of  trains  is  usually  by  num- 
bers. This  is  more  definite  and  more  brief 
than  by  any  other  time-table  title,  as  "local 
freight,"  "Chicago  express,"  etc.  An  extra 
train  is  probably  best  described  by  the  engine 
name  or  number,  as  there  is  usually  nothing 
else  about  a  train  so  definite  as  this.  Some  add 
the  names  of  conductors  and  enginemen. 
Where  there  is  any  danger  of  one  train  being 
mistaken  for  another,  the  engine  number 
should  be  used,  and  care  taken  against  mis- 
takes arising  from  change  of  engines. 


CHAPTER  X. 

FORMS    OF   TRAIN    ORDERS. 

The  advantage  of  pre-arranged  forms  of 
train  orders  for  the  cases  ordinarily  occurring 
has  been  already  adverted  to,  and  is  now 
fully  recognized.  Forms  should  be  brief.  A 
multitude  of  words  is  confusing.  They  are 
not  so  easily  read  ;  while  a  short  form,  with  a 
uniformly  well  understood  meaning,  is  com- 
prehended at  a  glance.  To  know  what  it  in- 
tends becomes  a  part  of  the  education  of  a 
railroad  man.  For  this  reason  it  would  be  a 
great  advance  if  this  service  could  be  every- 
where conducted  on  the  same  plans.  Brevity 
also  economizes  time  in  telegraphing,  which  is 
of  great  importance  on  a  busy  wire.  In  a  con- 
versation carried  on  by  a  company  of  persons 
several  may  speak  at  once,  or  nearly  so,  and 
things  go  smoothly  along,  but  on  a  wire  only 
one  can  speak  at  a  time,  and  hence  the  time 
each  communication  may  occupy  becomes  im- 
portant. 

All  men,  however,  do  not  quickly  catch  an 
idea  when  its  expression  is  reduced  to  the  sim- 
plest form.  This  is,  sometimes,  because  it  is 
new,  or  it  may  be  from  lack  of  training,  or 
even  natural  dullness,  or  because  human  na- 
ture is  so  constituted  that  men  view  the  sim- 
7 


98 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


plest  things  in  different  lights.  To  provide 
against  all  contingencies  of  this  kind,  and  to 
explain  to  men  the  proper  understanding  as 
well  as  to  settle  it  authoritatively,  explan- 
atory rules  are  needed,  with  definite  instruc- 
tions as  to  how  orders  are  to  be  interpreted. 
These  may  be  studied  at  leisure  and  discussed 
and  mutually  understood  by  the  men.  The 
need  of  these  rules  does  not  arise  from  any  in- 
completeness in  the  forms  of  orders.  A  sig- 
nal for  a  given  purpose  is  sufficient  in  itself, 
but  it  is  necessary  to  state  the  purpose  which 
it  is  designed  to  serve.  A  word  expresses  a 
definite  thought,  but  we  may  have  to  turn  to 
the  dictionary  to  learn  what  that  thought  is. 
Another  and  highly  important  service  of  such 
explanatory  rules  is  that  they  beget  confi- 
dence, on  the  ground  that  all  understand  alike. 
It  has  been  before  urged  that  a  separate 
order  should  be  given  for  each  separate  trans- 
action. This,  however,  need  not  be  pressed 
to  extremes.  Circumstances  may  arise  in 
which  forms  may  be  combined  with  advantage. 
For  instance,  an  order  may  be  given  : 

Engine  530  will  run  extra  to  Brighton,  and 
will  meet  train  No.  2  at  Lisbon. 

This  serves  the  purpose  of  an  "  extra  "  order 
and  of  a  "meeting"  order,  and  is  not  in  any 
way  confusing. 


FORMS  OF  TRAIN  ORDERS.  99 

Ordinarily  there  is  little  to  be  gained  by  de 
parting  from  the  general  rule  laid  down,  but 
experience  and  good  judgment  will  soon  deter- 
mine where  it  will  be  proper,  if  the  principles 
upon  which  safety  may  depend  are  kept 
steadily  in  view. 

Attempts  have  been  made  to  introduce 
printed  blanks  for  the  several  forms  of  orders, 
with  spaces  for  the  words  which  vary  with 
each  case,  such  words  only  to  be  telegraphed. 
This  plan  does  not  appear,  however,  to  have 
met  with  much  favor.  The  brevity  possible  in 
forms  is  such  that  little  is  saved  by  this 
method,  in  the  amount  of  telegraphing.  The 
words  sent  are  disconnected  and  unsatis- 
factory, and  the  care  and  attention  required  in 
having  a  number  of  books  on  the  operator's 
table  from  which  to  select  the  proper  form 
would  be  considerable,  especially  if  the  man- 
ifold is  used.  A  supposed  advantage  is  in 
having  explanatory  rules  printed  on  each 
blank.  It  is  better  to  have  these  printed 
together  with  all  the  forms  for  circulation 
among  the  employes,  who  can  then  discuss 
and  become  familiar  with  them  and  come  to  a 
uniform  understanding  as  to  their  meaning. 

Much  variety  has  existed  in  the  forms  of 
orders  in  use.  Prior  to  the  quite  general 
adoption  of  the  "  Standard"  code  there  were 
probably  no  two  roads  on  which  they  were  in 


100 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


all  respects  alike.  This  lack  of  uniformity 
was  unfortunate,  and  some  of  these  variations 
assumed  serious  importance  in  view  of  the 
time  occupied  in  telegraphing  superfluous 
words.  A  very  few  forms  suffice  for  the  most 
of  the  orders  issued. 

Those  here  considered  are  the  forms  issued 
with  and  forming  a  part  of  the  Time  Conven- 
tion Rules.  They  are  the  same  in  principle  as 
those  given  in  the  former  edition  of  The  Train 
Wire,  and  not  greatly  different  in  their  con- 
struction. Some  have  been  amplified  and  some 
additions  have  been  made. 

They  will  be  considered  under  the  following 
classification  : 

A.  For  trains  meeting. 

B.  For  trains  passing. 

C.  Reversing  rights  of  trains/ 

D.  Movements  regulated  by  time. 

E.  For  running  in  sections. 

F.  For  extra  trains. 

Gr.  For  annulling  trains. 
H.  For  annulling  an  order. 
I.    Holding  orders. 

Practice  may  suggest  additional  forms  or 
combinations  of  these. 

In  these  forms  trains  are  designated  by  num- 
bers, it  being  understood  that  those  of  odd 
numbers  move  in  one  direction  and  have  the 


FORMS  OF  TRAIN  ORDERS. 


101 


right  of  track  as  against  opposing  trains  of 
even  numbers,  and  that  the  train  rules  fix  this 
as  well  as  which  train  shall  ordinarily  take 
the  siding. 

It  will  be  understood  that  all  orders  are  ad- 
dressed in  the  manner  required  by  the  rules, 
including  in  the  address  the  places  where  the 
order  is  to  be  delivered,  thus  : 

C.  &  E.  train  No  1,  Paris. 
C.  &  E.  train  No.  2,  Madrid. 

The  forms  are  accompanied  by  examples  of 
their  use,  with  variations  for  different  cases 
and  explanatory  notes  or  rules,  all  being  a 
part  of  the  "Standard"  rules.  Following 
each  are  the  author's  remarks  : 

Form  A,— Fixing  Meeting-Point  for  Opposing  Trains. 
and will  meet  at . 

EXAMPLES. 

No.  1  and  No.  2  will  meet  at  Bombay. 
No.  3  and  2nd  No.  4  will  meet  at  Siam. 
No.  5  and  Extra  95  will  meet  at  Hong  Kong. 
Extra  652  North  and  Extra  231  South  will  meet  at  Yoko- 
hama. 

Trains  receiving  this  order  will,  with  respect  to  each  other, 
run  to  the  designated  point,  and  having  arrived  there  will 
pass  in  the  manner  provided  by  the  Rules. 

This  order  is  usually  given  to  designate  a 
definite  meeting-place  at  which  the  trains 
would  not  meet  under  the  operation  of  the 
time-table  and  train  rules.  No. 2  has  no  right  to 


102 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


pass  the  regular  meeting- place  if  No.  1  is  late, 
until  it  has  arrived ;  and  No.  2.  would  hence  in 
such  case  be  delayed  unless  an  order  is  given 
authorizing  it  to  proceed. 

If  No.  2  is  too  late  to  reach  the  regular  meet- 
ing-place before  No.  1  may  leave,  it  must,  by 
the  rules  keep  out  of  the  way  of  No.  1  by  wait- 
ing at  some  other  point,  but  an  order  enables 
it  to  run  with  confidence,  without  time  clear- 
ance, to  a  new  meeting-place.  It  may  happen 
that  an  order  will  be  useful  authorizing  trains 
to  meet  at  their  regular  meeting-place,  when 
both  are  behind  time  or  when  the  inferior  train 
is  not  much  late.  In  any  case  it  avoids  the 
necessity  for  allowing  any  time  for  clearance. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  add  to  the  form  of  the 
order  as  given  above,  as  has  been  sometimes 
done,  "and  pass  according  to  rule."  The  order 
should  not  be  burdened  with  this.  The  rules 
respecting  train  orders  should  always  provide, 
as  above, that  trains  ordered  to  meet  at  a  desig- 
nated point  will  both  run  to  that  point,  and 
having  arrived  there  will  pass  each  other  in 
the  manner  provided  by  the  rules,  unless 
otherwise  indicated  in  the  order  This  settles 
the  question,  which  has  been  raised,  of  the 
sufficiency  of  this  form  of  order,  and  also  ren- 
ders unnecessary  the  expression  "  meet  and 
pass."  The  word  "pass"  is  best  reserved  for 
use  in  connection  with  a  train  going  around 


FORMS  OF  TRAIN  ORDERS. 


103 


another  moving  in  the  same  direction,  and  it 
would  seem  unnecessary  to  direct  trains  meet- 
ing each  other  to  "  pass,"  as  they  cannot  pro- 
ceed without  passing ;  and  the  rules  should 
prescribe  the  method.  This  positive  meeting- 
order  is  generally  deemed  the  safest  form  of 
order  for  opposing  trains,  as  it  leaves  no  room 
for  doubt  or  calculation  in  determining  how 
the  order  is  to  be  executed.  In  the  use  of  this 
order  for  trains  of  several  sections  it  must  be 
held  to  apply  to  all  the  sections,  unless  other- 
wise specified,  and  each  section  that  is  included 
in  the  operation  of  the  order  should  be  referred 
to  and  is  required  by  the  u  Standard  "  rules  to 
have  copies. 

If  the  different  sections  are  to  be  met  at 
different  places,  separate  orders  are  best.  In 
the  forms  contained  in  a  book  of  rules  which 
appears  to  have  been  carefully  prepared,  is 
found  the  following  for  a  train  or  a  section  of  a 
train  which  is  to  meet  one  of  several  sections  : 

"Train  No.  —  will  meet  and  pass sec- 
tions of  train  No.  —  as  follows  :  first  section 

No.  — ,  at ;  second  section,  at  — —  ;  third 

section,  at  ," 

Some  of  the  objections  urged  against  the  prac- 
tice of  including  several  meeting-points  in  one 
order,  under  the  "  single  order"  system,  apply 
equally  to  this.  The  whole  of  this  order  must 
be  transcribed  for  and  delivered  to  each  sec- 


104  THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

tion,  and  each  conductor  and  engineman  must 
acquaint  himself  with  the  whole,  while  but 
one  train  is  concerned  with  all  of  it.  The  men 
of  each  of  the  sections  named  must  carefully 
pick  out  what  belongs  to  them,  and  those  of 
the  first  train  must  exercise  great  care  to  avoid 
missing  any  of  the  points  named.  It  will  be 
found  vastly  better  and  safer  to  give  a  separate 
order  for  each  meeting. 

Form  B.    Authorizing  a  Train  to  Run  Ahead  of  or    Pass 
Another  Train  Running  in  the  Same  Direction. 

(1.)    will  pass  at . 

(2.)    will  run  ahead  of ,  from  to . 

EXAMPLES. 

(1.)  No.  1  will  pass  No.  3  at  Khartoum. 

(2.)  No.  kwill  run  ahead  of  No.  6  from  Bengal  to  Madras. 

When  under  this  order  a  train  is  to  pass  another,  both 
trains  will  run  according  to  rule  to  the  designated  point  and 
there  arrange  for  the  rear  train  to  pass  promptly. 

Referring  to  Example  1,  if  train  No.  1  is 
superior  to  No.  3,  the  rules  should  give  it  the 
right  to  pass,  as  No.  3  must  keep  out  of  its 
way  and  no  order  would  be  required.  If  No. 
3  is  the  superior  and  is  for  any  reason  running 
slower  than  No.  1  and  it  is  desired  to  permit 
the  latter  to  pass,  an  order  of  this  kind  is 
needed.  A  regular  freight  train  may  be  in  the 
way  of  a  special  passenger  train  which  it  is 
necessary  should  pass  the  freight.  The  order 
may  also  be  needed  for  two  extras  or  for  regular 


FORMS  OF  TRAIN  ORDERS.  105 

trains  of  equal  class.  If  the  train  passed  is  the 
superior,  the  order  does  not  in  terms  fully  con- 
vey to  the  other  all  the  right  needed.  Having 
passed,  it  may  be  for  some  time,  or  at  a  subse- 
quent period,  within  the  time  of  the  superior 
train,  and  it  hence  would  by  the  train  rules 
be  required  in  turn  to  clear  the  track  for  a 
train  which  it  had  passed  a  short  time  before. 
A  fair  inference  is  that,  if  allowed  to  pass,  it 
is  of  course  to  proceed  ahead  of  the  other,  but 
if  this  is  not  clearly  understood  or  fixed  by  a 
rule,  the  form  of  the  order  should  be  modified 
for  such  cases  either  by  adding,  "  and  will  run 
ahead  from  there,"  or  by  making  it  read  as  in 
Example  2  indicating  the  point  to  as  well  as 
that  from  which  the  train  specified  is  to  "  run 
ahead"  of  the  other. 

This  variation  is  also  for  authorizing  a  train 
to  run  ahead  of  and  in  the  time  of  another 
from  some  point  at  which  the  other  has  not 
arrived.  The  point  to  which  it  shall  so  run  is 
to  be  omitted  when  it  is  not  desired  to  impose 
such  limitation. 

Under  this  use  of  the  order  No.  6  is  assumed 
to  be  late,  and  No.  4,  an  inferior  train  waiting 
for  it,  is  allowed  to  proceed  in  its  time.  No.  6 
may  be  a  first-class  passenger  train  wait- 
ing for  connections,  and  No.  4  may  be  a 
local  freight  train  which  is  enabled  by  this 
order  to  proceed  with  its  work  ;  or  perhaps  it 


106 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


may  be  a  train  starting  from  some  way-station 
or  junction  at  which  the  rules  would  require 
it  to  wait  for  No.  6  to  pass.  No.  6  is  to  as- 
sume that  the  other  may  be  ahead  at  any 
point  beyond  that  named  in  the  order,  and 
run  accordingly.  The  Dispatcher  of  course 
provides,  by  giving  more  definite  orders  as 
soon  as  he  can  do  so,  that  no  unnecessary  de- 
lay arises  to  the  superior  train  from  the  oper- 
ation of  the  order. 

The  train  rules  should  make  it  clear  that 
when  a  train  is  authorized  to  "run  ahead"  of 
another  ~by  special  order,  tlie  train  following 
must  guard  against  collision  with  the  train 
ahead,  as  during  the  operation  of  the  order 
their  relative  rights  as  to  superiority  (when 
any  existed)  are  reversed. 

An  order  giving  a  train  the  right  to  use  a 
given  number  of  minutes  in  the  time  of  a  supe- 
rior train  going  in  the  same  direction,  comes 
properly  under  4 '  time-orders.' ' 

Form  C.— Giving  a  Train  of  Inferior  Right  the  Right  of 
Track  Against  an  Opposing  Train  of  Superior  Right^ 


has  right  of  track  against to . 

EXAMPLES. 

(1)  No.  2  has  right  of  track  against  No.  1,  Mecca  to  Mirbat. 

(2)  Extra  37  has  right  of  track  against  No.  3,  Natal  to 
Ratlam. 

This  order  gives  a  train  of  inferior  right  the  right  of  track 
against  one  of  superior  right  to  a  designated  point. 


FORMS  OF  TRAIN  ORDERS. 


107 


If  the  trains  meet  at  the  designated  point,  the  train  of 
inferior  right  must  take  the  siding,  unless  the  rules  or  orders 
otherwise  indicate. 

Under  this  order,  as  illustrated  by  example  (1),  if  the  train 
of  superior  right  reaches  the  designated  point  before  the 
other  arrives,  it  may  proceed,  provided  it  keeps  clear  of  the 
schedule  time  of  the  train  of  inferior  right  as  many  minutes 
as  the  inferior  train  was  before  required  by  the  train  rules  to 
keep  clear  of  the  superior  train. 

If  the  train  of  superior  right,  before  meeting,  reaches  a 
point  beyond  that  named  in  the  order,  the  conductor  must 
stop  the  other  train  where  it  is  met  and  inform  it  of  his 
arrival. 

Under  example  (2)  the  train  of  superior  right  cannot  go 
beyond  the  designated  point  until  the  extra  train  arrives. 

When  the  train  of  inferior  right  has  reached  the  desig- 
nated point,  the  order  is  fulfilled,  and  the  train  must 
then  be  governed  by  time-table  and  train-rules  or  further 
orders. 

The  following  modification  of  this  form  of  order  will 
be  applicable  for  giving  a  work  train  the  right  of  track 
over  all  other  trains  in  case  of  a  wreck  or  break  in  the 
track  :— 

EXAMPLE. 

Work  Train  Extra  275  has  right  of  track  over  all  trains 
between  Stockholm  and  Edinburgh  from  7  P.  M. . 

This  gives  the  work  train  the  exclusive  right  of  the  track 
between  the  points  designated. 

This  form  is  equivalent  in  effect  to  that 
known  as  the  "  Regardless "  order,  which 
reads  thus : 

"No*  2  will  run  to  (Lyons]  regardless  of 
No.  1." 

The  term  "  regardless,"  although  having 
something  of  a  reckless  sound,  has  been  taken 


TRAIN  WIRE. 

as  exactly  indicating  the  purport  of  this  order, 
viz. :  that  a  train  is  to  cease  to  regard  certain 
rights  of  another  which  are  conferred  by  the 
rules,  but  are  suspended  or  abrogated  by  this 
order.  Here,  as  in  other  duplicate  orders,  it  is 
understood  that  a  new  right  conferred  upon 
one  train  takes  away  or  limits  a  right  of  some 
other  train;  and  that  an  order  allowing  a 
train  to  run  regardless  of  another  requires  the 
latter  to  keep  out  of  the  way. 

It  was  thought  best,  and  is  certainly  an  im- 
provement, to  dispense  with  the  old  designa- 
tion and  adopt  for  this  order  a  title  and 
phraseology  indicating  its  purport  more  spe- 
cifically. 

The  ordinary  use  of  this  order  is  to  advance 
a  train  to  a  point  within  the  time  of  one 
superior  to  it,  when  there  may  be  uncertainty 
as  to  the  trains  actually  meeting  there.  The 
trains  would  usually  proceed  expecting  to 
meet,  but  anticipating  possible  new  orders. 
If  the  Dispatcher  thinks  he  is  likely  to  have 
further  orders,  he  may  find  it  best  to  add, 
4 1  and  ask  for  further  orders . ' '  This  will  bring 
the  trainmen  at  once  to  the  office  on  arrival  if 
the  opposing  train  is  not  seen.  A  positive 
meeting-order  is  to  be  preferred  to  this  form 
when  it  will  as  well  serve  the  purpose.  A 
note  to  this  effect  was  proposed  in  the  Time 
Convention,  but  it  was  finally  determined  that 


FORMS  OF  TRAIN  ORDERS. 


109 


this  should  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  operating 
officers. 

The  use  of  this  order  for  a  train  "  running 
ahead,"  as  proposed  in  the  former  edition  of 
The  Train  Wire,  is  unnecessary  with  the  second 
example  under  Form  B. 

The  effect  of  an  order  in  Form  C  is  to  reverse 
for  a  time  or  for  certain  parts  of  the  track  the 
relations  of  trains  as  respects  superiority  of 
right.  Some  have  failed  to  perceive  that,  under 
certain  circumstances,  it  will  be  proper  for  a 
train  mentioned  in  this  order  to  leave  the  des- 
ignated point  before  the  other  has  arrived. 

This  point  is  settled  by  the  ru]es  with  the 
form,  but  it  may  not  be  altogether  clear  to 
some  that  the  conclusion  is  correct.  The  fol- 
lowing will  perhaps  make  it  clear : 

Let  A,  B  and  C  in  the  following  diagram 
represent  three  stations,  of  which  B  is  the 
schedule  meeting-point  of  two  trains  running 
in  the  directions  indicated,  No.  1  being  the 
superior  train  and  having  the  right  to  run  on 
its  own  time  beyond  B  if  No.  2  has  not  arrived. 

A B C 

No.  1 ISF  jjs%  No.  2. 

Both  trains  are  due  at  B  at  the  same  time. 
If  No.  1  is  late  before  arriving  at  A  an  order  is 
given : 

"No.  2  has  right  of  track  against  No.  1 
from  B  to  A." 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

Under  this  order  No.  2  becomes  temporarily 
superior  to  No.  1,  and  obtains  the  right  to  run 
to  A  on  its  own  time  without  regard  to  the 
time  or  rights  of  No.  1.  On  the  arrival  of  the 
latter  at  A  it  may  be  found  to  have  made  up 
so  much  time  that  it  can  proceed  toward  B 
and  reach  that  or  some  intermediate  point  be- 
fore No.  2  can,  on  its  own  schedule  time,  reach 
such  point.  May  it  do  so  ?  There  is  clearly 
nothing  in  the  order  or  in  the  rules  to  pre- 
vent. No.  1  is,  for  the  time  being,  the  inferior 
train.  It  is  in  the  position  of  a  train  having 
no  rights  against  No.  2,  and  must  be  governed 
by  that  fact.  But  any  train  inferior  to  No.  2 
may  go  from  A  to  B  or  to  any  point  if  it  can 
clear  No.  2  in  accordance  with  the  rules.  It 
should  be  held  as  a  cardinal  principle  in 
train  dispatching  that  an  order  is  not  to 
be  taken  as  having  greater  effect  than  is 
actually  expressed.  In  the  order  in  question 
one  train  is  directed  to  run  to  a  point  without 
respect  to  the  rights  of  another.  This  annuls 
the  rights  of  the  one  as  respects  the  regular 
time  of  the  other  for  the  portion  of  the  track 
designated.  The  rights  are  simply  reversed. 
No.  1  is  now  required  to  keep  clear  of  the  time 
of  No.  2  as  laid  down  in  the  time-table,  with  as 
much  clearance  as  the  train  rules  required  of 
No.  2  as  respects  the  time  of  No.  1  before  the 
order  was  given.  It  cannot  be  supposed  that 


FORMS  OF  TRAIN  ORDERS. 


Ill 


No.  2  may  possibly  run  ahead  of  time  from  B. 
This  could  only  be  done  on  an  order  to  do  so 
duplicated  to  No.  1  and  to  any  other  train 
affected  by  it. 

If  B  is  the  point  given  in  the  order,  no  such 
question  can  arise  as  to  either  train,  as  each  is 
due  at  the  same  time.  If,  however,  C  is  the 
given  point,  it  is  upon  the  assumption  that 
No.  2  is  too  late  to  get  farther  than  C  without 
interference  with  No.  1.  If  No.  2  makes  up 
time,  so  that  on  reaching  C  it  is  found  that  it 
has  time  to  go  farther  and  still  keep  clear  of 
No.  1,  as  required  by  the  rules,  its  schedule 
rights  will  admit  of  this,  and  the  order  does 
not  in  any  way  interfere  with  them  excepting 
in  adding  to  them  what  is  supposed  to  be  re- 
quired to  enable  the  train  to  reach  C. 

It  would  appear  then  that  when  an  order 
gives  a  train  of  inferior  right  the  right  of  track 
to  a  given  point  against  a  superior  train,  the 
train  arriving  first  at  the  designated  point  may 
go  beyond  it,  before  the  other  arrives,  to  any 
point  where  it  can  clear  the  regular  time  of 
the  opposing  train  the  number  of  minutes  re- 
quired, The  train  thus  passing  the  given  point 
must  run  as  the  inferior  of  the  two  until  the 
other  is  met,  and  should  be  required,  as  in 
the  rule,  to  clear  the  other  by  as  much  as  the 
train  rules  prescribe  for  clearance  of  similar 
trains. 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

As  a  further  illustration  of  this  question, 
suppose  that  a  general  order  were  issued  giv- 
ing to  a  regular  train  the  right  of  track  against 
all  other  trains.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that 
this  would  prevent  other  trains  from  running, 
excepting  as  they  might  fall  into  the  time  of 
the  train  to  which  this  right  was  given.  Or 
the  order  under  Form  D  giving  all  trains  the 
right  of  track  against  a  given  train,  does  not 
prevent  the  designated  train  from  running 
freely  where  it  does  not  get  in  the  way  of  other 
regular  trains. 

It  is  evident  that  this  form  of  order  differs 
from  the  "  meeting "  order  in  this  important 
respect,  that  under  certain  circumstances  trains 
may  meet  at  some  other  point  than  that  named 
in  the  order,  and  that  it  may  be  said  that 
4 '  when  either  train  has  reached  .  the  point 
designated  in  this  order,  it  may  proceed,  if  it 
can  do  so  without  trespassing  on  the  schedule 
time  of  the  other."  The  point  is  further  il- 
lustrated under  the  operation  of  Form  D. 

It  is  evident  that,  if  the  inferior  train  is  an 
extra,  it  has  no  schedule  time  by  which  the 
superior  train  can  be  guided,  and  hence  the 
latter,  as  provided  by  the  rule,  cannot  go  be- 
yond the  designated  point  until  the  extra  has 
arrived. 

The  careful  discussion  of  the  question  here 
involved  is  justified  by  the  fact  that  practical 


FORMS  OF  TRAIN  ORDERS. 


113 


men  hold  different  views  respecting  it,  and 
many  rules  determine  it  differently  or  leave  it 
wholly  or  partly  unsettled.  The  fact  that 
there  is  a  considerable  diversity  of  opinion 
upon  so  important  a  point,  indicates  that  the 
course  to  be  pursued  under  the  circumstances 
should  be  clearly  set  forth  in  the  rules.  A 
rule  should  not,  however,  be  made  to  add  to 
the  effect  of  an  order.  It  is  usually  only 
needed  by  way  of  explanation  or  to  authorita- 
tively determine  that  upon  which  a  doubt  may 
exist.  It  may  occur  to  some  that  the  trains 
meeting  at  an  unexpected  point  may  not  rec- 
ognize each  other  as  the  trains  designated  in 
the  order.  It  must  be  presumed  that  conduc- 
tors will  observe  all  trains  met,  and  knowing 
what  regular  trains  are  due  will  know  when 
they  have  met  them,  and  not  wait  elsewhere 
for  them  ;  and  that  extras  are  distinguished 
from  regular  trains  by  proper  signals. 

To  avoid  delays,  however,  a  provision  is 
made  that  a  train  of  superior  right  reaching  a 
point  beyond  that  designated  in  the  order  be- 
fore meeting  the  other  train,  must  notify  the 
latter  when  it  is  met.  As  in  that  case  the 
train  of  superior  right  has  not  the  right  of 
track,  it  must  take  the  siding  where  it  meets 
the  train  which  has  been  given  the  right  of 
track  against  it.  When  the  train  of  inferior 
right  arrives  at  the  point  designated  in  the  or- 

8 


114  THE  TRAIX  WIRE. 

der  before  meeting  the  other,  tne  order  is  ful- 
filled ;  and  having  no  longer  the  right  of  track 
it  must  take  the  siding  at  that  point  or  at  such 
other  point  as  it  may  reach  under  the  opera- 
tion of  the  rules  in  time  to  clear  the  train  of 
superior  right. 

An  order  in  Form  C  with  time  limit  is  ob- 
jectionable, as  there  is  danger  of  overlooking 
the  time  limit.  It  is  better  to  use  a  distinct 
form  for  time  orders. 

Form  D.— Giving  all  Regular  Trains  the   Right  of  Track 
Over  a  Given  Train, 

All   regular   trains    have   right  of   track   against   

between and  . 

EXAMPLE. 

All  regular  trains  have  right  of  track  against  No.  1  be- 
tween Moscow  and  Berlin. 

This  order  gives  to  any  regular  train  of  inferior  right  re- 
ceiving it  the  right  of  track  over  the  train  named  in  the  or- 
der, and  the  latter  must  clear  the  schedule  times  of  all  regu- 
lar trains,  the  same  as  if  it  were  an  extra, 

This  form  involves  the  same  principles  as 
the  last,  and  might  have  been  included  under 
the  same  general  head  but  for  the  wish  to 
give  it  greater  distinctness .  Th  e  use  of  '  'over' ' 
in  the  title  and  the  rule,  instead  of  "  against" 
used  elsewhere,  is  probably  the  result  of  over- 
sight. 

No  form  was  presented  by  the  Convention 
Committee  for  giving  to  a  given  train  the  right 
of  track  against  all  regular  trains.  If  circum- 


FORMS  OF  TRAIN  ORDERS. 


115 


stances  require,  such  an  order  can  of  course 
be  given  on  the  same  plan  as  others  involving 
the  same  principles. 

Form  E.— Time  Orders. 

(1.)  will  run late  from to . 

(2.)  will  wait  at until for . 

EXAMPLES. 

(1.)  No.  1  will  run  20  min.  late  from  Joppa  to  Mainz. 
(2.)  No.  1  will  wait  at  Muscat  until  10  A.  M.  for  No.  2. 

Form  (1)  makes  the  schedule  time  of  the  train  named,  be- 
tween the  points  mentioned,  as  much  later  as  the  time  stated 
in  the  order,  and  any  other  train  receiving  the  order  is  re- 
quired to  run,  with  respect  to  this  later  time,  the  same  as  be- 
fore required  to  run,  with  respect  to  the  regular  schedule 
time.  The  time  in  the  order  should  be  such  as  can  be  easily 
added  to  the  schedule  time. 

Under  Form  (2)  the  train  of  superior  right  must  not  pass 
the  designated  point  before  the  time  given,  unless  the  other 
train  has  arrived.  The  train  of  inferior  right  is  re- 
quired to  run  with  respect  to  the  time  specified,  the  same  as 
before  required  to  run  with  respect  to  the  regular  schedule 
time  of  the  train  of  superior  right. 

The  character  and  effect  of  these  two  forms 
of  Time  Orders  are  sufficiently  clear  from  the 
explanatory  rules.  The  first  simply  sets  back 
a  schedule  and  the  second  is  positive  as  to  the 
time  to  which  the  superior  train  must  wait. 
There  might  have  been  added  a  form  author- 
izing an  inferior  train  to  use  a  given  number  of 
minutes  of  the  time  of  a  superior  train. 
This  would  have  applied  to  any  point.  The 
effect  would  have  been,  for  the  particular  in- 


116 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


ferior  train,  the  same  as  under  Example  1  for 
all  trains.  It  was  probably  concluded  that,  if 
a  train  was  to  run  late,  all  others  should  have 
the  benefit,  and  that  there  would  be  no  par- 
ticular advantage  in  a  form  for  but  one  train. 
The  time-limit  feature  appears  also  in  Forms 
G  and  H. 

Many  object  to  time-orders.  They  are  cer- 
tainly not  as  definite  as  a  positive  meeting-or- 
der, and  for  this  reason,  and  because  there  is  a 
chance  of  error  in  the  calculations  required, 
they  are  not  to  be  preferred.  A  time-table, 
however,  is  a  "  time  order,"  and  it  is  not  al- 
ways possible  to  avoid  directing  trains  to  run 
with  reference  to  time.  A  judicious  Dispatcher 
will  discriminate  as  to  the  cases  in  which  he 
should  do  this.  In  all  cases  such  even  number 
of  minutes  or  hours  should  be  given  as  will  re- 
duce to  a  minimum  the  risk  of  making  the 
necessary  addition  or  subtraction.  The  risk 
of  a  time  order  and  of  all  running  on  time, 
arises  largely  from  the  possibility  of  train- 
men not  having  the  correct  time.  The  allow- 
ance of  five  minutes  for  difference  in  watches 
does  not  appear  to  answer  the  purpose  for 
which  it  is  designed,  as  men  will  trespass  on 
this.  The  objections  made  to  time  orders  ap- 
pear to  be  overcome  as  far  as  possible  by  the 
forms  presented,  and  now  generally  adopted, 
with  the  present  excellence  of  time-keepers  and 


FORMS  OF  TRAIN  ORDERS. 


117 


the  precautions  insisted  on  for  preserving  them 
in  good  condition. 

Form  F.— For  Sections  of  Regular  Trains. 
will  carry  signals  to  for  . 

EXAMPLES. 

No.  1  will  carry  signals  Astrakhan  to  Cabulfor  Eng.  85. 
2nd  No.  1  will  carry  signals  London  to  Dover  for  Eng.  90. 
This  may  be  modified  as  follows  : 

Engines  70, 85,  and  90  will  run  as  1st,  2d  and  3d  sections  of 
No.  1  London  to  Dover. 
For  annulling  a  section. 

Eng.  85  is  annulled  as  second  section  of  No.  1  from  Dover. 
If  there  are  other  sections  following  add  : 
Following  sections  will  change  numbers  accordingly. 
The  character  of  train  for  which  signals  are  carried  may 
be  stated.    Each    section  affected  by  the  order   must 
have  copies,  and  must  arrange  signals  accordingly. 

When  two  or  more  trains  are  run  on  the 
same  schedule  or  time-table  time,  with  the 
same  schedule  rights,  each  carrying  signals  for 
that  following  it,  each  several  train  is  referred 
to  as  a  "  section."  Upon  some  roads  these  sec- 
tions following  the  first  train  are  called 
extra  trains.  This  method  is  not  recog- 
nized under  the  "  standard "  rules,  the 
term  " extra"  being  applied  only  to  trains 
not  run  by  schedule.  It  is  of  great  import- 
ance that  the  rights  of  a  second  or  other  fol- 
lowing section  be  clearly  understood,  both  by 
trainmen  and  those  engaged  in  the  issue  of 
telegraphic  orders.  The  general  practice  is 


118  THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

now  probably  such  as  to  leave  bat  lit  tie  misap- 
prehension on  this  point,  whatever  may  have 
been  the  case  in  the  past,  when  with  some  the 
rule  was  to  " follow  the  flag"  wherever  it 
might  go,  instead  of  as  now  treating  each  sec- 
tion, in  ascertaining  its  rights,  as  though  it 
were  running  alone  on  the  schedule.  When  a 
regular  train  is  to  carry  signals  to  denote  that 
a  second  section  is  to  follow  on  the  same 
schedule,  the  author  is  of  the  opinion  that  a 
train  order  to  this  effect  should  be  given  in  a 
definite  form. 

Rule  110  of  the  "  Standard"  rules  appears 
to  authorize  the  practice  that  prevails  with 
some,  under  which  the  signals  for  freight 
trains  running  in  sections  are  ordered  on  by 
the  yard  dispatcher  or  station  agent.  If  the 
train  Dispatcher  is  duly  advised,  there  does 
not  seem  to  be  any  serious  objection  to  this, 
although  there  are  reasons  to  be  urged  in  favor 
of  all  orders  affecting  the  movement  of  trains 
being  issued  from  the  central  office.  Cer- 
tainly it  would  not  be  wise  to  delegate  this 
authority  as  respects  passenger  trains,  and  this 
the  "Standard"  rules  recognize. 

The  forms  given  for  sections  make  the  order 
to  carry  signals  equivalent  to  an  order  to  run 
as  a  section  of  a  regular  train.  The  order 
annulling  a  section  implies  that  signals  will  be 
removed  as  the  circumstances  may  require. 


FORMS  OF  TRAIN  ORDERS. 


119 


Form  G,— For  Arranging  a  Schedule  for  a  Special  Train, 

(1.)  Eng.  will    run  as  special train,  leaving 

—  on  —    —  on  the  following  schedule,  and  will  have  the 

right  of  track  over  all  trains  : 
Leave    , 


Arrive  . 

EXAMPLE. 

(1.)  Eng.11  will  run  as  special  passenger  train,  leaving 
Turin  on  Thursday,  Feb.  YIth,  on  the  following  schedule, 
and  will  have  the  right  of  track  over  all  trains : 

Leave  Turin  11.30  P.  M. 
Pekin  12.25  A.  M. 
Canton  1.47  A.  M. 

Arrive  Borne  2.22  A.  M. 

Example  (1)  may  be  varied  by  specifying  particular  trains 
over  which  the  special  shall  or  shall  not  have  right  of 
track,  and  any  train  over  which  the  special  train  is  thus  given 
the  right  of  track  must  clear  its  time  as  many  minutes  as 
such  train  is  required  to  clear  the  schedule  time  of  a  first- 
class  train. 

(2.)   Eng.  will  run  as  special  train,  leaving 

on with  the  rights  of  a class  train , 

on  the  following  schedule,  which  is  a  supplement  to  time- 
table No.  : 

Leave . 


Arrive . 

EXAMPLE. 

(2.)  Eng.  75  will  run  as  special  passenger  train,  leaving 
Geneva,  Thursday,  Feb.  17th,  with  the  rights  of  a  first-class 
train  east,  on  the  following  schedule,  which  is  a  supplement 
to  time-table  No.  10: 

Leave  Geneva  10.00  A.  M. 

Pekin     10.30  A.  M.,  passing  No.  12. 
Canton   11.00  A.  M.,  meeting  No.  7. 

Arrive  Athens  11.304.  M. 

Example  (2)  creates  a  regular  train  and  the  specified  meet- 
ing and  passing  points  are  to  be  regarded  as  if  designated  in 
the  same  manner  as  on  the  time-table.  Such  trains  will  be 
governed  by  all  rules  which  affect  regular  trains. 


120 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


Forms  for  arranging  schedules  were  not  sug- 
gested in  the  former  edition  of  The  Train 
Wire,  and  their  use  has  not  been  very  gen- 
eral. They  appear  to  be  adapted  to  some  spe- 
cial circumstances  and  wants,  but  in  the  adop- 
tion of  the  u  Standard"  rules  some  roads  have 
omitted  a  portion  of  the  provisions  under 
Form  G. 

No  particular  remarks  need  be  made  re- 
specting these  forms,  excepting  perhaps  that 
we  have  here  an  introduction  of  the  time  feat- 
ure and  that  any  risk  from  this  is  enhanced 
by  the  considerable  number  of  "  times  "  to  be 
sent  by  telegraph  and  observed  by  trainmen. 

Form  H.— Extra  Trains. 
will  run  extra  from to  . 

EXAMPLE. 

(a.)  Eng.  99  will  run  extra  from  Berber  to  Gaza. 

A  train  receiving  an  order  to  run  extra  is  not  required  to 
guard  against  opposing  extras,  unless  directed  by  order  to 
do  so,  but  must  keep  clear  of  all  regular  trains,  as  required 
by  rule. 

A  "work  train"  is  an  extra,  for  which  the  above  form  will 
be  used  for  a  direct  ijun  in  one  direction.  The  authority  to 
occupy  a  specified  portion  of  the  track,  as  an  extra  while 
working,  will  be  given  in  the  following  form  : 

(b.)  Eng.  292  will  work  as  an  extra  from  1  A.  M.  until  6  P. 
M.  between  Berne  and  Turin. 

The  working  limits  should  be  as  short  as  practicable,  to  be 
changed  as  the  progress  of  the  work  may  require.  The  above 
may  be  combined,  thus  : 

(c.)  Eng.  292  will  run  extra  from  Berne  to  Turin  and 
work  as  an  extra  from  1  A.M. until  6  P.  M.  between  Turin 
and  Home. 


FORMS  OF  TRAIN  ORDERS. 

When  an  order  has  been  given  to  "work"  between  desig- 
nated points,  no  other  extra  must  be  authorized  to  run  over 
that  part  of  the  track  without  provision  for  passing  the 
work  train. 

When  it  is  anticipated  that  a  work  train  may  be  where  it 
cannot  be  reached  for  meeting  or  passing  orders,  it  may  be 
directed  to  report  for  orders  at  a  given  time  and  place,  or  an 
order  may  be  given  that  it  shall  clear  the  track  for  a  desig- 
nated extra  in  the  following  form : 

(d.)  Work  train  292  will  keep  clear  of  Extra  223,  south,  be- 
tween Antwerp  and  Brussels  after  2.10  P.  M. 

In  this  case,  extra  223  must  not  pass  either  of  the  points 
named  before  2.10  P.  M.,  at  which  time  the  work  train  must 
be  out  of  the  way  between  those  points. 

When  the  movement  of  an  extra  train  over  the  work- 
ing limits  cannot  be  anticipated  by  these  or  other  orders 
to  the  work  train,  an  order  must  be  given  to  such  extra, 
to  protect  itself  against  the  work  train,  in  the  following 
form : 

(e.)  Extra  76  will  protect  itself  against  work  train  extra 
95  between  Lyons  and  Paris. 

This  may  be  added  to  the  order  to  run  extra. 

A  work  train  when  met  or  overtaken  by  an  extra  must  al- 
low it  to  pass  without  unnecessary  detention. 

When  the  conditions  are  such  that  it  may  be  considered 
desirable  to  require  that  work  trains  shall  at  all  times  pro- 
tect themselves  while  on  working  limits,  this  may  be  done 
under  the  following  arrangements.  To  example  (b)  add  the 
following  words : 

(/.)  protecting  itself  against  all  trains. 

A  train  receiving  this  order  must,  whether  standing  or 
moving,  protect  itself  within  the  working  limits  (and  in  both 
directions  on  single  track)  against  all  trains,  in  the  manner 
provided  in  Rule  99. 

When  an  extra  receives  orders  to  run  over  working  limits 
it  must  be  advised  that  the  work  train  is  within  those  limits 
by  adding  to  example  (a)  the  words  : 

(g.)  Eng.  202  is  working  as  an  extra  between  Berne  and 
Turin. 

A  train  receiving  this  order  must  run  expecting  to  find  the 
work  train  within  the  limits  named. 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

Under  Form  H  it  has  been  undertaken  to 
cover  the  whole  subject  of  orders  for  extra 
trains,  excepting  for  cases  which  come  natu- 
rally under  other  forms,  as  when  an  extra  is 
ordered  to  meet  another  train. 

The  term  ' '  wild ' '  has  been  quite  extensively 
used  for  these  trains,  and  history  should  pre- 
serve the  fact  that  on  some  roads,  when  a  train 
was  ordered  to  run  extra,  it  was  directed  to 
"  wildcat." 

An  order  for  a  train  to  run  extra  is  very 
simple.  The  train  is  accurately  designated  by 
the  number  or  name  of  its  engine,  and  the  or- 
der reading  as  in  example  (a)  is  the  foundation 
for  those  which  follow. 

This  is  of  course  not  a  duplicate  order.  But 
one  train  is  concerned,  and  there  is  no  other 
train  to  be  notified  until  it  becomes  necessary 
to  forward  the  extra  by  meeting  or  other  orders. 
In  those  it  is  described  as  an  extra  and  treated 
as  any  other  train,  but  in  the  meantime  it 
must  keep  out  of  the  way  of  all  regular  trains, 
and  the  Dispatcher  must  keep  it  in  hand  and 
especially  guard  against  having  more  than  one 
extra  on  the  same  part  of  the  track  at  the  same 
time.  Here  is  an  element  of  danger  where  the 
necessities  require  frequent  extra  trains. 
Whenever  practicable,  trains  should  be  run 
on  a  regular  schedule,  but  it  will  often  happen 
that  there  is  no  regular  train  upon  which  sig- 


FORMS  OF  TRAIN  ORDERS.  123 

nals  may  be  carried  for  a  train  that  must  be 
run,  and  it  must  go  as  an  extra. 

A  precaution  which  has  been  found  valuable 
is  for  the  Dispatcher  to  have  before  him  a 
large  blackboard  on  which  he  shall  place  con- 
spicuously the  number  of  each  extra  ordered. 
The  habit,  soon  acquired,  of  looking  at  this 
whenever  an  extra  is  ordered,  has  proved  a  suffi- 
cient safeguard  where  this  plan  has  been  used. 

There  is  a  class  of  extras  which  cannot  be 
dispensed  with,  and  the  management  of  which 
gives  rise  to  serious  difficulty.  These  are  the 
material  or  "  work  "  trains.  These  trains  must 
work  upon  the  track  away  from  stations,  often 
with  a  large  force  of  men,  and  delays  to  their 
operations  cause  expense  as  well  as  hindrance 
to  work.  At  the  same  time  they  must  not  be 
permitted  to  interfere  with  the  passage  of  reg- 
ular trains,  nor  of  others  more  than  can  be 
avoided.  The  solving  of  this  problem  has  been 
attempted  in  various  ways.  Some  allow  the 
"work  train"  to  occupy  the  track  by  right, 
except  that  it  must  keep  out  of  the  way  of 
regular  trains.  Some  permit  it  to  work  under 
flag  "  until  freight  trains  come  in  sight."  To 
get  it  out  of  the  way  for  any  but  regular  trains, 
the  want  must  be  anticipated,  and  an  order 
given  while  it  is  within  reach  for  the  work 
train  to  report  for  orders  at  a  designated  hour 
and  place.  This  plan  does  not  give  as  com 


I'M 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


plete  control  of  the  movements  of  the  work 
train  as  is  desirable. 

A  plan  which  has  commended  itself  during 
long  use,  and  is  presented  in  the  foregoing 
rules,  is  as  follows  :  The  work  train,  previous 
to  starting  out  for  the  day,  receives  an  order  to 
run  extra  to  the  part  of  road  where  its  work 
lies.  At  the  same  time,  and,  if  convenient,  in 
the  same  order,  it  is  authorized  to  work  upon 
the  part  of  the  track  desired,  between  two  con- 
tiguous telegraph  stations,  a  specified  time 
being  added,  if  convenient,  at  which  the  tr:mi 
will  have  to  go  to  one  of  the  offices  limiting 
the  working  ground,  for  further  instructions, 
if  it  is  foreseen  that  it  may  be  wanted  about 
that  time  for  this  purpose.  Confining  the 
working  limits  between  two  contiguous  tele- 
graph stations  leaves  the  smallest  practicable 
part  of  the  track  beyond  complete  control. 
This  practically  makes  a  section  of  the  track 
for  the  time  being  a  "yard,"  through  which 
extras  cannot  pass  without  looking  for  yard 
engines,  as  is  usually  provided  where  yard 
rules  include  a  portion  of  the  main  track. 

The  rules  provide  two  methods  for  operating 
44  work  train"  on  the  section  assigned,  a  note 
by  the  Time  Convention  committee  indicating 
that  either  or  both  may  be  adopted,  accord- 
ing to  circumstances.  One  of  these  re- 
quires the  train  to  protect  itself  against  all 


FORMS  OF  TRAIN  ORDERS.          125 

trains  ;  the  other  allows  it  to  work  without 
protection,  and  requires  extras  to  look  out 
for  it  and  protect  themselves  against  it,  after 
receiving  notice  as  to  where  it  is  work- 
ing. Under  the  first  plan  the  work  train  is 
required  to  keep  signals  out  at  all  times  for  its 
protection,  and  in  running  to  either  limit  of 
its  working  ground  to  fully  protect  itself 
against  any  extra  which  might  come.  It  is  of 
course  required  to  keep  clear  of  all  regular 
trains,  and  when  running  to  or  from  its  work- 
ing ground  is  provided  with  such  meeting- 
orders  as  may  be  required.  Under  this  plan, 
if  the  Dispatcher  finds  it  necessary  to  send  an 
extra  over  the  working  grounds,  he  informs  it 
in  the  order  that  the  work  train  is  there  (g). 
This  furnishes  a  precaution  in  addition  to  the 
signals  of  the  work  train,  and  the  proceeding 
is  entirely  safe.  It  can  be  no  less  so  than  the 
practice  of  working  under  flag  in  the  time  of  a 
delayed  regular  freight  train  until  it  appears 
in  sight,  and  this  plan  seems  to  afford  an 
entirely  practicable  method  for  working  these 
trains  with  the  least  interference  with  their 
work  and  with  other  trains,  and  with  entire 
safety. 

Under  the  plan  by  which  the  work  train  is 
under  no  requirement  to  use  any  precautions 
to  protect  itself  on  working  ground,  if  another 
extra  is  to  pass  over  that  ground  there  is  only 


126  THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

the  notice  to  such  extra  of  the  presence  of  the 
work  train,  and  the  necessity  of  protecting 
against  it.  This  may  be  sufficient  with  a  clear 
view,  but  there  are  many  circumstances  where 
the  double  precaution  would  seem  to  be  best, 
as  the  requirement  that  signals  shall  be  kept  a 
given  distance  ahead  of  a  moving  train  is 
scarcely  likely  to  be  fully  complied  with .  The 
plan  in  which  the  work  train  is  required  to 
protect  itself  is  not  to  be  viewed  as  a  case  of 
divided  responsibility,  in  which  each  party 
may  depend  on  the  other.  The  requirement 
for  the  work  train  is  absolute.  An  extra  getting 
a  notice  as  to  where  the  work  train  is  employed 
is  not  required  to  protect  itself.  Such  notice 
would  lead  to  keeping  the  train  under  greater 
control  and  looking  for  the  signals  of  the  work 
train,  and  whether  the  rule  is  that  the  work 
train  shall  protect  itself  or  not  it  would  be  best 
to  give  such  notice,  as  this  would  enable  extras 
to  run  with  confidence  and  without  protection 
against  the  work  train  on  parts  of  the  road 
where  it  was  not  employed. 

As  to  which  of  the  methods  provided  by  the 
rule  shall  be  used,  this  must  depend  somewhat 
upon  circumstances.  Where  the  passing  of  an 
extra  train  is  very  infrequent,  the  constant 
putting  out  of  signals  by  the  work  train  would 
seem  to  those  charged  with  the  duty  so  un- 
necessary that  they  would  be  likely  to  neglect 


FORMS  OF  TRAIN  ORDERS. 


12? 


it,  and  it  would  be  better  under  such  circum- 
stances to  require  extras  to  protect  when  orders 
cannot  be  given.  When  extras  are  so  frequent 
that  the  loss  of  time  in  protecting  themselves 
would  be  very  serious,  it  would  be  better  to 
put  the  duty  on  the  work  train.  There  would 
be  the  advantage  then  of  the  daily  habit  on  the 
part  of  those  attending  to  this  duty. 

Form  J.—  Holding  Order. 
Hold  -  . 

EXAMPLES. 

(1)  Hold  No.  2. 

(2)  Hold  all  trains  east. 

As  any  order  for  which  "  O  K"  has  been  given  and  acknowl- 
edged operates  as  a  holding  order  for  the  train  to  which  it  is 
addressed,  this  form  will  only  be  used  in  special  cases  to 
hold  trains  until  orders  can  be  given  or  for  some  other 
emergency.  The  reason  for  holding  may  be  added,  as  "for 
orders." 

This  order  is  not  to  be  used  for  holding  a  train  while  orders 
are  given  to  other  trains  against  it  which  are  not  at  the 
same  time  given  to  it  in  duplicate.  It  must  be  respected  by 
conductors  and  enginemen  of  trains  thereby  directed  to  be 
held  as  if  addressed  to  them.  Conductors,  when  informed  of 
the  order,  must  sign  for  it,  and  their  signatures  must  be  sent 
and  "  complete  "  obtained. 

When  a  train  has  been  so  held  it  must  not  go  until  the 
order  to  hold  is  annulled,  or  an  order  is  given  in  the  form  : 

"  -  may  go." 

This  must  be  addressed  to  the  person  or  persons  to  whom 
the  order  to  hold  was  addressed,  and  must  be  delivered  in 
the  same  manner. 

The  rules  and  explanations  under  this  form 
are  so  complete  that  comment  as  to  the  design 
and  significance  of  the  order  is  unnecessary. 
In  view  of  much  former  practice,  too  much  im- 


128 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


portance  cannot  be  attached  to  the  provision 
relating  to  what  the  holding  order  shall  not  be 
used  for. 

Form  K.— Annulling  a  Schedule  Train, 
of is  annulled. 

EXAMPLES. 

(1)  No.  1  of  Feb.  2Qth  is  annulled. 

(2)  No.  3,  due  to   leave   Naples  Saturday,  Feb.  2idth,  is 
annulled. 

Adding"  from  Alaska"  or  "between  Alaska  and  Hali- 
fax,'' when  appropriate. 

This  order  takes  away  all  rights  of  the  train  annulled  and 
authorizes  any  train  or  person  receiving  it  to  use  the  track 
as  if  the  train  annulled  were  not  on  the  time-table. 

If  a  train  is  annulled  to  a  point  named,  its  rights  beyond 
that  point  remain  unaffected. 

The  Train  Dispatcher  may  direct  any  operator  to  omit  re- 
peating back  an  order  annulling  a  train,  until  he  has  occa- 
sion to  deliver  it. 

When  a  train  has  been  annulled  it  must  not  be  again  re 
stored  under  its  original  number  by  special  order. 

As  this  is  a  general  order,  which  may  or  may 
not  have  to  be  delivered  to  trains  at  all  tele- 
graph stations,  it  is  very  properly  provided 
that  repeating  back  at  once  by  each  office  need 
not  be  insisted  upon. 

The  restoration  of  an  annulled  train  under 
its  original  number  would  tend  to  confusion, 
and  the  impropriety  of  such  action  is  here 
recognized. 

When  a  train  is  annulled  it  naturally  fol- 
lows that  orders  previously  issued  to  it  cease 


FORMS  OF  TRAIN  ORDERS. 


129 


to  be  of  effect  and  the  Dispatcher  must  see 
that  the  duplicates  of  such  orders,  held  by 
other  trains,  are  annulled,  if  from  not  doing  so 
confusion  or  delay  would  arise.  Ordinarily 
the  order  annulling  the  train  would  be  suffi- 
cient, if  sent  to  trains  holding  these  orders.  If 
a  section  of  a  train  is  annulled  it  would  seem 
that  the  same  general  rule  should  apply.  The 
"  Standard"  rules  do  not  touch  on  this  and  it 
would  be  difficult  to  frame  and  operate  a  rule 
upon  any  other  than  the  plan  pointed  out.  It 
may  be  suggested  that  orders  held  by  the  an- 
nulled section  should  be  transferred  to  the 
section  following  it,  and  which,  by  the  rules, 
takes  its  place.  This  would  be  convenient  in 
some  cases  and  when  so  might  be  directed ; 
but  there  may  be  no  following  section,  and, 
if  there  is,  the  circumstances  may  have  so 
changed  since  the  orders  were  issued  as  to 
render  them  inapplicable.  The  transfer  of 
orders  without  the  usual  precautions  to  ensure 
their  correct  reception  is  objectionable  and  it 
is  best  to  avoid  it  when  not  absolutely  neces- 
sary. 

The  better  way  is  no  doubt  to  leave  to  the 
Dispatcher  the  disposition  of  orders  issued  for 
a  train  afterward  annulled,  whether  such  train 
be  a  section  or  otherwise.  It  would  have  been 
well  if  the  u  Standard"  rules  had  made  some 
explicit  declaration  on  this  point. 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

Form  L.— Annulling  or  Superseding  an  Order. 
Order  No. is  annulled. 

This  will  be  numbered,  transmitted,  and  signed  for  as  other 
orders. 

If  an  order  which  is  to  be  annulled  has  not  been  delivered 
to  a  train,  the  annulling  order  will  be  addressed  to  the 
operator,  who  will  destroy  all  copies  of  the  order  annulled 
but  his  own,  and  write  on  that : 

Annulled  by  order  No. . 

An  order  superseding  another  may  be  given,  adding,  "  this 
supersedes  order  No. ,"  or  adding,  "instead  of ." 

EXAMPLE. 

No.  1  and  No.  2  will  meet  at  Sparta  instead  of  at  Thebes. 

An  order  which  includes  more  than  one  specified  move- 
ment must  not  be  superseded. 

An  order  that  has  been  annulled  or  superseded  must  not  be 
again  restored  by  Special  Order  under  its  original  number. 

In  the  address  of  an  order  annulling  or  superseding  another 
order,  the  train  first  named  must  be  that  to  which  rights 
were  given  by  the  order  annulled  or  superseded,  and  when 
the  order  is  not  transmitted  simultaneously  to  ail  concerned 
it  must  be  sent  to  the  point  at  which  that  train  is  to  receive 
it  and  the  required  response  first  given,  before  the  order  is 
sent  for  other  trains. 

The  annulling  order  is  here  properly  made 
subject  to  all  the  safeguards  adopted  for  orders 
directing  the  movements  of  trains,  and  placed 
by  its  number  in  the  series  with  them.  Super- 
seding one  order  by  another  without  the  pre- 
vious process  of  annulling  is  here  provided  for 
with  the  important  provision  that  this  method 
shall  not  be  used  for  an  order  including  more 
than  one  specified  movement.  It  would  seldom 
be  applicable  to  such  a  case,  and  if  it  were  it 


FORMS  OF  TRAIN  ORDERS. 

might  tend  to  confusion,  so  that  it  is  better  to 
annul  the  whole  order  and  give  new  instruc- 
tions in  separate  orders. 

The  provision  that  an  annulled  order  shall 
not  be  restored  under  its  original  number  is 
quite  necessary  to  avoid  the  confusion  which 
might  arise  under  the  opposite  course.  The 
requirement  as  to  priority  in  transmission  of 
this  order  is  important,  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
orders  reverse  the  rights  of  trains,  and  the 
reason  here  is  the  same  as  that  which  obtains 
in  the  original  transmission. 

The  Time  Convention  rules  prescribe  the 
forms,  etc.,  for  the  blanks  on  which  train 
orders  are  to  be  written.  These  forms  are  here 
shown,  with  the  specifications  for  the  manifold- 
books. 

Some  slight  changes  have  been  made  in  these 
by  roads  adopting  them,  but  in  all  essential 
features  they  have  not  been  departed  from,  so 
far  as  the  author  is  aware. 


132  THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

Standard  Train  Order  Blank  for  19  Order. 


BOUND  HERE. 


PERFORATED   LINE. 


LONDON  &  PARIS  RAILWAY  COMPANY 

TELEGRAPHIC  TRAIN  ORDER  No.  -. 

Superintendent's  Office,  March  27, 188s. 


FORM 

19 


For        STATION        to        c.&E.         of        NO.  13. 


19 


Conductor  and  Engineman  must  each  have  a  copy 
of  this  order. 


Rec'd  2:15  P.  M.  Made  Complete  at  2:16  P.  M.  Eec'd  by  Jones  Op'r. 


Specifications  for  Train  Order  Form  and  Books  for 
Operators  for  19  Orders. 

Form  as  here  shown.  Blank  space  for  order  4  inches, 
with  no  lines.  The  mode  of  filling  the  blanks  is  indicated  by 
small  type. 

Names  of  divisions  and  office  to  be  varied  to  suit  each 
division. 

Form  6%  x  6  inches  below  perforated  line.  Book  6%  x  7>£ 
inches. 

Three  hundred  leaves  ;  stitched  ;  bound  at  top  ;  paper  cover 
on  face  and  top  ;  very  stiff  back  on  lower  side. 


FORMS  OF  TRAIN  ORDERS. 


133 


Paper  opaque,  green,  sized,  and  of  such  thickness  as  to 
admit  of  making  7  good  copies  with  No.  4  Faber  pencil. 

To  be  used  with  carbon  paper,  6%  x  7  inches,  and  a  stiff 
tin,  same  size,  corners  rounded. 

Standard  Train  Order  Blank  for  31  Order. 


BOUND  HERE. 
PERFORATED  LINE. 

LONDON  &  PARIS  RAILWAY  COMPANY 

TELEGRAPHIC  TRAIN  ORDER  NO.       ™ 

Superintendent's  Office, 

March  27,  188s. 

FORM 

31      Fm 

STATION        to         C.&E. 

FORM 

Of        No.  13.        g^ 

Conductor  and  Engineman  must  each  have  a  copy  of 
this  order. 

Time  received     2:15  A.      M.      o.  K.     given  at     2:15  A.      M. 

Conductor 

Engine- 
man. 

Train. 

Made. 

A  .        Received 
by 

Jones. 

Brown. 

13 

Complete. 

2:30          Dennison. 

o  fe'rt  £ 

"    °^§-g 

.2  £  £j  o<-> 

•3        0>  O>  d 

*>  a  q  fc.  M 

alga0 

I 

134 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


Specifications   for    Train    Order    Form    and    Books   for 
Operators  for  31   Orders, 

Form  as  here  shown.  Blank  space  for  order  4  inches, 
with  no  lines.  The  mode  of  filling  the  blanks  is  indicated  by 
small  type. 

Names  of  divisions  and  office  to  be  varied  to  suit  each 
division. 

Form  6%  x  9K  inches  below  perforated  line.  Book  6%  x  10}£ 
inches. 

Three  hundred  leaves  ;  stitched  ;  bound  at  top  ;  paper  cover 
on  face  and  top  ;  very  stiff  back  on  lower  side. 

Paper  opaque,  white,  sized,  and  of  such  thickness  as  to 
admit  of  making  7  good  copies  with  No.  4  Faber  pencil. 

To  be  used  with  carbon  paper,  6%  x  9  inches,  and  a  stiff 
tin,  same  size,  corners  rounded. 

The  following  is  the  clearance  card  proposed 
in  connection  with  the  u  Standard  "  rules  to  be 
used  when  the  train  order  signal  is  operated 
on  the  plan  of  Rule  524B  : 


LONDON  &  PARIS  RAILWAY  COMPANY 

CLEARANCE    CARD. 

Dover, 9:15  A.  M.  March  25, 188       ?• 


Conductor  and  Engineman  No.       12 
I  have  no  orders  for  your  train.  Signal  is  out  for    No.  16. 
John  Jones, 

Operator. 

This  does  not  interfere  with  or  countermand  any  orders 
you  may  have  received. 

Conductor  MUST  SEE  that  the  number  of  HIS  TRAIN 
is  entered  in  the  above  form  correctly. 

Conductor  and  Engineman  must  each  have  a  copy. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

GENERAL  EEMAEKS. 
RULES  AS  TO  RIGHTS  OF  TRACK. 

The  respective  rights  of  trains  are  frequently 
spoken  of  in  what  has  gone  before.  Any 
method  of  dispatching  must  be  subject  to 
modification  in  some  of  the  details  to  accord 
with  the  particular  rules  of  the  road  govern- 
ing train  rights.  A  great  deal  of  ingenuity 
has  been  expended  in  constructing  such  rules, 
with  a  view  to  avoiding  delay  to  trains  under 
all  imagined  circumstances.  Trains  to  which 
the  superior  right  of  track  has  been  assigned 
have  been  required  to  wait  at  meeting  points 
twenty,  thirty  or  more  minutes,  and  changing 
or  movable  rights  have  been  connected  with 
this,  and  allowances  have  been  made  for  u  vari- 
ation in  watches."  These  devices  may  occa 
sionally  prove  useful,  and  rules  are  necessary 
to  govern  the  trains  in  the  most  of  their  move- 
ments, as  the  telegraph  may  sometimes  be 
out  of  order  and  at  best  cannot  control  the 
general  movements  of  trains  as  well  as  it  can 
be  done  by  rule.  But  where  the  telegraph  is 
managed  with  anything  like  the  perfection  now 
possible,  the  occasions  are  few  upon  which  it 


136 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


is  unavailable  for  any  long  time  ;  and  whatever 
may  have  been  the  seeming  necessity  formerly 
for  complicated  rules  and  time  allowances,  it 
would  seem  that  these  may  now  be  greatly 
simplified,  as  has  in  fact  been  done  in  the 
"  Standard"  rules. 

These  rules  provide  that  all  trains  running 
in  one  direction,  specified  on  the  time-table, 
shall  have  absolute  right  of  track  over  oppos- 
ing trains  of  the  same  class,  the  rule  being  en- 
tirely without  complication  by  time  allowance 
for  clearance. 

This  is  exceedingly  simple  and  interposes  no 
difficulties  in  ascertaining  the  respective  rights 
of  these  trains.  The  precaution  is  observed  of 
requiring  superior  trains  to  stop  at  schedule 
meeting-points  unless  the  switches  are  seen  to 
be  right  and  the  track  clear,  and  to  run  cau- 
tiously, prepared  to  stop  at  other  points  where 
a  train  may  be  met  that  has  not  been  met  at  a 
schedule  meeting-point.  This,  however,  adds 
no  complication  to  the  rule. 

For  trains  of  different  classes  it  is  simply 
arranged  that  those  of  any  class  shall  clear  the 
main  track  five  minutes  before  the  time  of  those 
of  a  superior  class. 

It  is  not  within  the  plan  of  this  work  to  enter 
upon  a  full  discussion  of  the  various  methods 
of  arranging  train  rights.  It  is  only  insisted 
that  the  rules  should  be  simple.  This  not  only 


GENERAL  REMARKS. 


137 


tends  to  safety  in  their  ordinary  operation, 
bnt  greatly  simplifies  the  work  of  train  dis- 
patching and  removes  the  risks  to  which  this 
work  is  subjected  by  a  complicated  system  of 
train  rules.  The  reduction  of  the  amount  of 
mental  eifort  required  of  the  Dispatcher,  in 
determining  what  aid  he  shall  give  to  trains  by 
special  orders,  reduces  the  risk  of  his  making 
mistakes  in  the  preparation  of  these  orders,  and 
the  simplicity  here  urged  is  in  the  direct  line 
of  the  work  of  the  Time  Convention  commit- 
tee in  the  preparation  of  the  "  Standard"  rules. 
NUMBERING  SWITCHES. 

Of  those  matters  fixed  by  the  train  rules 
which  directly  affect  the  train  dispatching, 
few  are  more  important  than  the  arrangements 
which  determine  how  trains  meeting  shall  pass 
each  other.  It  is  usually  understood  and  pro- 
vided that,  when  trains  meet,  those  having  the 
right  of  track  shall  keep  the  main  track,  with 
sometimes  an  exception  to  this  in  favor  of 
trains  which  cannot  go  on  the  siding  without 
backing.  Where  this  latter  provision  exists  it 
renders  it  unnecessary  for  either  train  to  pass 
the  switch  in  the  face  of  the  other  when  they 
are  to  meet  at  a  siding  open  only  at  one  end. 
It  is  sometimes,  however,  necessary  to  put  a 
superior  train  on  the  siding  for  a  train  that  is 
too  heavy  or  too  long  to  go  on,  or  for  some 
other  reason.  The  train  order  must  settle  this, 


138 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


but  this  usually  adds  to  its  length.  •  The  fol- 
lowing provision  has  been  found  to  entirely 
meet  the -case: 

At  each  siding  or  group  of  switches  the  main 
track  switches  are  numbered  from  No.  1,  and 
the  numbers,  all  running  in  the  same  general 
direction,  are  painted  on  the  switch  signals 
with  the  initial  letter  of  the  station  or  siding. 
For  instance,  at  the  London  passing  siding  the 
northernmost  switch  will  be  marked  L  1,  and 
the  southernmost  L  2.  An  order  is  given  re- 
quiring trains  No.  1  and  No.  2  to  meet  at  Lon- 
don, and  it  is  desired  to  put  the  superior  train, 
No.  1,  going  north,  on  the  siding.  The  order 
would  then  read: 

No.  I  and  No.  2  will  meet  at  London  No.  2. 

Train  No.  2  may  then  run  to  switch  No.  2 
on  the  main  track,  and  train  Noi  1  can  go  no 
farther.  It  is  a  physical  impossibility  for  the 
trains  to  pass  at  that  switch  without  No.  1 
going  on  the  siding,  which  it  would  do  with- 
out question  under  the  operation  of  a  rule 
requiring  that  when  trains  meet  on  orders  the 
train  sJiall  take  the  siding  which  can  do  so 
without  backing.  This  simple  arrangement 
indicates  also  which  siding  is  to  be  used 
at  a  station  having  several.  It  economizes 
telegraphing  very  mucn  and  is  perfectly  defi- 
nite. 


GENERAL  REMARKS. 


139 


Tliis  plan  is  especially  valuable  when  the 
arrangement  of  sidings  is  not  of  the  most 
simple  character,  or  when  three  or  more  trains 
are  to  meet  or  pass  at  the  same  point,  at  or 
near  the  same  time.  The  simplicity  with  which 
the  placing  of  the  trains  is  effected  leaves  noth- 
ing to  be  desired.  Each  goes  to  its  own  place 
without  hesitation  or  loss  of  time. 

In  all  railroad  operations  we  now  see  in- 
creased attention  given  to  minute  details.  To 
this  is  dne  much  of  the  marvelous  advance  in 
every  department.  This  is  especially  evident 
in  all  mechanical  appliances.  It  is  very  ap- 
parent in  the  construction  of  the  "  Standard" 
Rules. 

The  suggestion  here  brought  forward  is  in 
this  direction.  Instead  of  directing  trains  to 
meet  at  a  given  station  where  there  may  be 
doubt  as  to  the  exact  point,  leaving  them  to  as- 
certain on  arrival  which  switch  is  to  be  used 
or  which  siding  is  clear,  this  plan  gives  in  the 
order  the  precise  point  and  also  conveys  the 
information  as  to  which  train  will  take  the 
siding.  This  suggestion,  made  in  the  earlier 
edition  of  this  work,  has  been  adopted  only  to 
a  very  limited  extent,  so  far  as  the  author  is 
aware.  He  is  so  fully  convinced  of  its  value 
that  he  feels  like  urging  its  careful  considera- 
tion. To  fully  carry  out  the  plan,  those  using 
the  "  Standard"  rules  would  have  to  add  the 


140 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


provision  above  indicated  requiring  those 
trains  to  take  the  siding  which  can  do  so 
without  backing. 

DOUBLE  TRACK. 

With  more  than  one  track  the  business  of 
train  dispatching  is  usually  little  more  than  to 
keep  slow  trains  out  of  the  way  of  faster  ones. 
The  protection  of  trains  unexpectedly  stopped 
from  trains  following,  may  be  effected  by  the 
"  block  system"  in  use  on  many  of  our  best 
roads. 

Single  track  work  may  be  needed  when  one 
of  the  tracks  is  blocked,  but  unfortunately  the 
men  engaged  on  double  track  do  not  become 
familiar  with  the  methods  for  single  track,  and 
cannot  usually  operate  them  satisfactorily  in 
emergencies. 

The  use  of  the  opposite  tracks  for  laying  off 
trains  is  frequently  practiced,  but  usually  un- 
der the  protection  of  signals  only.  Where 
there  are  two,  three  or  four  tracks  a  much 
more  extended  use  of  them  might  be  made  for 
passing  trains  around  each  other,  by  the  adop- 
tion of  the  methods  for  single  track  train  dis- 
patching, with  good  results  in  the  saving  of 
sidings  and  in  keeping  heavy  trains  moving, 
and  it  is  not  improbable  that  expenditure  for 
additional  tracks  might  sometimes  be  post- 
poned for  considerable  periods  by  the  proper 
adaptation  of  the  telegraph.  There  would 


GENERAL  REMARKS. 

seem  to  be  here  an  opportunity  for  managers  to 
keep  down  their  capital  account  by  increasing 
the  capacity  of  their  tracks  by  the  addition  of 
a  wire.  That  this  has  not  been  done  in  many 
cases  may  have  been  owing  to  the  slow  advance 
of  the  science  of  train  dispatching  in  past 
years,  or  perhaps  to  limited  information  on  the 
part  of  railroad  owners  and  officers  as  to  its 
capabilities.  It  is  certainly  true  that  single 
track  roads  with  siding  facilities  none  too  good 
are  now  doing  an  amount  of  business  that  not 
many  years  ago  wrould  have  been  thought  to 
imperatively  demand  additional  tracks. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

CONCLUSION. 

Telegraphic  train  dispatching  came  with  the 
telegraph.  The  first  attempts  were  very 
crude.  As  late  as  the  year  1865,  on  one  of  our 
most  important  railroads,  the  plan  was  for  any 
conductor  to  telegraph  from  a  station  where 
he  might  be,  to  the  conductor  of  an  opposing 
train  at  the  next  station,  stating  when  he 
would  leave,  and  where  he  would  meet  the 
other.  When  the  two  came  to  an  under- 
standing they  went  ahead. 

The  early  orders,  in  the  attempt  to  render 
them  more  secure,  were  often  obscured  by  ac- 
cumulated cautions  as  to  how  to  run,  and  by 
general  directions.  To  under  take  now  to  give 
the  historical  facts  of  those  early  days  would 
require  more  research  than  the  author  has 
been  able  to  give,  and  might  involve  contro- 
versy into  which  he  does  not  care  to  enter.  It 
appears  likely  that  methods  nearly  like  the 
present  "  single  order"  were  the  earliest  tried, 
and  these  seem  to  have  been  more  widely 
used  than  the  "  duplicate."  The  latter  was 
at  least  not  long  behind  the  other.  It  was 
originated  and  carefully  worked  up  in  several 


14:4  THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 

independent  quarters,  and  from  these  it  has 
been  adopted  by  others.  The  author  has 
never  used  any  other  method.  Adopting  it 
in  1863,  it  was  in  use  for  some  years  before  he 
was  aware  that  others  were  in  the  same  path, 
who  may  have  commenced  at  a  still  earlier 
date. 

The  closing  paragraph  of  the  first  edition  of 
this  work  was  as  follows  : 

u  This  method  is  growing  in  favor,  and  one 
object  of  the  author  will  have  been  attained  if 
this  discussion  shall  aid  in  promoting  its  gen- 
eral adoption." 

In  preparing  this  second  edition  the  fact 
has  constantly  appeared  that  the  former  words 
of  recommendation  related  to  points  which  are 
now  realized  facts  on  a  majority  of  our  rail- 
roads and  that  the  method  then  urged  has 
now  reached  the  then  desired  position  of 
4  4  general  adoption.' ' 

The  author  cannot  take  leave  of  his  subject 
without  a  special  word  to  railroad  managers. 
No  "system"  has  yet  been  devised,  or  ever 
will  be,  that  will  work  itself.  Rules  cannot 
be  given  to  men  with  the  expectation  that 
they  will  take  them  up,  master  their  princi- 
ples and  operate  them  satisfactorily,  especially 
in  so  important  a  matter  as  that  under  discus- 
sion, without  careful  instruction  and  intelli- 
gent supervision  on  the  part  of  those  who, 


CONCLUSION. 


145 


from  their  official  position,  are  responsible 
for  the  results.  A  superintendent  who  is 
not  himself  particularly  informed  respect- 
ing the  rules  and  methods  of  his  telegraph 
department,  the  character  and  capabilities 
of  the  men  employed,  and  the  manner  in 
which  their  duties  are  performed,  cannot 
expect  to  secure  the  advantages  which  the 
telegraph  is  capable  of  giving.  Perhaps  the 
first  public  intimation  that  anything  is  wrong 
may  be  a  series  of  so-called  ''accidents" 
on  his  line.  Investigation  points  to  the  care- 
lessness of  some  operator  or  dispatcher  as  the 
cause.  Deeper  probing  would  perhaps  dis- 
cover that  such  carelessness  was  the  natural 
consequence  of  lack  of  constant  and  pains- 
taking supervision.  Besides  securing  for  such 
particular  supervision  a  competent  and  trust- 
worthy person  whose  special  business  it  should 
be,  the  superintendent  can  never  get  away  from 
the  necessity  of  constantly  impressing  upon 
such  official  the  responsibilities  of  his  position, 
discussing  with  him  the  details  of  the  work, 
and  seeing,  at  least  occasionally,  with  his  own 
eyes,  how  it  is  performed. 

The  telegraph  may  be  viewed  as  holding  to 
the  railroad  a  relation  analogous  to  that  of  the 
nervous  system  to  the  body.  From  the  center 
of  authority  and  intelligence  it  carries  infor- 
mation and  instructions  to  every  member.  It 
10 


146 


THE  TRAIN  WIRE. 


keeps  in  motion  the  whole  body,  which,  with- 
out this,  would  be  in  a  measure  lifeless.  Its 
ceaseless  and  healthful  activity  is  all-impor- 
tant ;  and  as  failure  of  the  nervous  energy  is  to 
the  human  frame,  so  to  the  railroad  is  a  falling 
off  in  the  vital  force  operating  through  the  train 
wire.  A  tonic  is  needed  and  perhaps  a  change 
of  doctors. 

The  author's  duties  for  some  time  have  not 
brought  him  into  direct  connection  with  the 
operation  of  trains,  and  he  will  probably 
never  again  be  engaged  in  this  department  of 
railroad  work. 

His  interest  in  it,  however,  is  unabated,  and 
his  desire  that  the  methods  he  has  endeavored 
to  set  forth  shall  meet  with  enlarged  useful- 
ness, until  better  shall  be  found,  has  led  him  to 
this  second  effort  to  present  what  has  been 
his  study  during  the  most  of  his  business  life, 
and  now  leads  him  to  urge  upon  those  now  ac- 
tively engaged  in  this  work  that  the  ' '  price ' ' 
of  success,  as  of  ''liberty, "  is  "  eternal  vig- 
ilance." 


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